Inferring Missing Information Good readers constantly make inferences as they read. That means they think like a detective and look for clues in the text. Then they use these clues to guess about the text and about the writer's ideas. This is especially important when some ideas are not directly stated. Making inferences also helps a reader get around difficult vocabulary or sentence structure. In the following exercises, you will practice inferring information. If you find words that you do not know, skip over them. Look for the elves that will help you answer the inference questions.