TEN STEPS to

ADVANCED READING
SECOND EDITION

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SECOND EDITION

TEN STEPS
to

ADVANCED
READING
John Langan

2013 Townsend Press

Chapter 6

INFERENCES

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences
are ideas that are not stated directly.
They are conclusions we draw based on
things we see, hear, and read.
Conclusions

See

Hear

Read

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Which inference is most logically based on the

information suggested by this cartoon?
A. The dog requires more than one
leash to keep it securely tied to
the parking meter.

B. The dog has eaten the other dogs

tied up at the parking meter.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

A. The dog requires more than one

leash to keep it securely tied to
the parking meter.

B. The dog has eaten the other dogs

tied up at the parking meter.
Three leashes are in the
mouth of this big, hostileThis is adog.
logical inference.
looking

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

A. The dog requires more than one

leash to keep it securely tied to
the parking meter.
The owner has used only one
leash to tie the dog to the
The other
leashes are in the
parking
meter.
This is not a logical
dogs mouth.
inference.
B. The
dog has eaten the other
dogs tied up at the parking
meter.
Three other leashes are in the
mouth of this big, hostilelooking dog. This is a logical
inference.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Which inference is most logically based on the

information suggested by this cartoon?
C. The dog is ordinarily a friendly
dog.

D. The dog is waiting for its owner

to return.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

C. The dog is ordinarily a friendly

dog.

D. The dog is waiting for its owner

to return.
It is a reasonable inference
that the owner who tied up
the dog will returnand will
be in for a surprise!

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

C. The dog is ordinarily a friendly

dog.
It may or may not ordinarily
be a friendly dog, but it
doesnt look friendly here,
and it obviously has not been
friendly to other dogs.
D. The dog is waiting for its owner
to return.
It is a reasonable inference
that the owner who tied up
the dog will returnand will
be in for a surprise!

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Discovering the ideas in writing that

are not stated directly is called

Making inferences
or

Drawing conclusions

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

Inferences in Reading
In reading, we make logical leaps from
information stated directly
to ideas that are not stated directly.

Information Stated Directly

Ideas Not Stated Directly

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

To make inferences, we use all the clues provided

by the writer, our own experience, and logic.

Clues
Provided

Experienc
e

Logic

Inference

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

You have already practiced making inferences in

the chapter on implied main ideas.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

There we made an inference when we figured out

that the implied point of this cartoon is that the
newlyweds marriage has broken down, just like
their car.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

In the chapter on implied main ideas, you used the

evidence in selections to figure out main ideas that
were implied rather than stated directly.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

Inferences in Short Passages

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Short Passages

Read this passage and think about the inferences

Twain
makes.
Mark
Twain said: When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I
could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,
I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Short Passages

Which inference is logically based on the

information
provided?
Mark Twain said:
When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I
could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,
I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

A. Teenagers tend to think they know it all and that adults do not.

B. Even old people are capable of learning a great deal.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Short Passages

Mark Twain said: When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I
could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,
I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

A. Teenagers tend to think they know it all and that adults do not.

Experience tells us that teenagers often think

they know more than their parents generation.
Twains observation is a humorous statement of
Even old people are capable of learning a great deal.
thisB.truth.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Short Passages

Mark Twain said: When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I
could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21,
I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

A. Teenagers tend to think they know it all and that adults do not.

B. Even old people are capable of learning a great deal.

Twain was 14 when he thought his father was

ignorant. At 21 he is astonished at the
oldare
These
mans
learning.
clues that
it is Twain who has changed, not his
father. But statement B says the oppositethat it
is not a logical inference.
was the Therefore,
father whothis
changed.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading

Inferences in Paragraphs

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Read this passage and think about the inferences

it suggests.
Suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Which inference is logically based on the

information
provided?
Suppose that
you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

A. The author implies that many Americans dont like to think about
the harmful effects of smoking.
B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans
will smoke in the future.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

A. The author implies that many Americans dont like to think about
the harmful effects of smoking.
The author presents statistics showing the harmful effects
of smoking.
B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans
will smoke in the future.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

A. The author implies that many Americans dont like to think about
the harmful effects of smoking.
Life experience tells us that few people like to think about
the negative consequences of their behavior.
B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans
will smoke in the future.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

A. The author implies that many Americans dont like to think about
the harmful effects of smoking.
This is a logical inference.
B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans
will smoke in the future.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Inferences in Paragraphs

Suppose that you have a ticket to fly to some exotic destination. There will
be 200 passengers plus crew on board your plane. But on the way to the airport,
the radio program you are listening to is interrupted by an announcement that five
U.S. jets will be hijacked that day. All will crashand all passengers and crew
will die. There is no doubt that five planes will go down, that 1,000 terrified
passengers and crew will plunge to their deaths. In spite of the threat, the airlines
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

A. The author implies that many Americans dont like to think

about the harmful effects of smoking.
There is nothing in the passage to indicate that fewer
Americans will smoke in the future.
B. The author implies that chances are good that fewer Americans
will smoke in the future. This is not a logical inference.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

uidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.
For instance, in the passage about the risks of
smoking, we are told that most Americans would
refuse to fly if they knew that jets were to be
hijacked.
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

For instance, in the passage about the risks of
smoking, we are told that most Americans would
refuse to fly if they knew that jets were to be
hijacked. But that many Americans continue to
risk their lives despite the known dangers of
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
smoking.
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

On the basis of those facts, we would not
conclude that fewer Americans will smoke in the
future.
have decided to stay open for business. Do you still fly? After all, the chances are
good that yours will not be one of the five planes. My best guess is that you turn
around and go home, that U.S. airports will be eerily silent that day. Nicotine kills
about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the equivalent of five fully loaded,
200-passenger jets crashing each and every dayleaving no survivors. Who in
their right mind would take the risk that their plane will not be among those that
crashed? Yet that is the risk that smokers take.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

2 Use your background information and experience to
help you in making inferences.
Backgrou
ndInform
ationand
Experien
ce

Available
Information

Inference

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

2 Use your background information and experience to
help you in making inferences.

People dont like to dwell on the negative consequences of their behav

Experience

For instance, life experience tells us that people

dont like to dwell on the negative consequences
of their behavior.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

2 Use your background information and experience to
help you in making inferences.

People dont like to dwell on the negative consequences of their behav

Experience

Available
Information

be silent that day. Nicotine kills about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the

The increased risk of death is a negative

consequence of choosing to smoke.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

2 Use your background information and experience to
help you in making inferences.

People dont like to dwell on the negative consequences of their behavio

Experience

Available
Information

Inference

be silent that day. Nicotine kills about 400,000 Americans each year. This is the

American smokers dont like to think about the

harmful effects of smoking.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Reading / Guidelines for Making Inferences in Reading

1 Never lose sight of the available information.

2 Use your background information and experience to
help you in making inferences.
3 Consider the alternatives.
Dont simply accept the first inference that
Instead,toconsider
comes
mind. all of the facts of a case and all
the possible explanations.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature
Inferences are very important in reading literature.
Writers of factual material usually state directly
much of what they mean.
Factual
Material

Point directly
stated

Creative
Material

Point must be
inferred

Creative writers, however, often provide verbal

pictures that show what they mean.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature

A nonfiction writer might write:

It would be really hard to feel the pain that others feel. It
is better not to know.

Compare the nonfiction version with this passage

from George Eliots novel Middlemarch:
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary
human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and
the squirrels heart beat, and we should die of that roar
which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, we walk
about well wadded with stupidity.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature

These vivid images help us infer a profound human

truththat behind the surface we often carry
around a great deal of pain. We protect ourselves
with ignorance and stupidity so that we will not die
from experiencing the pain of others.
Eliot uses vivid images.
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary
human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and
the squirrels heart beat, and we should die of that roar
which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, we walk
about well wadded with stupidity.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature

A Note on Figures of Speech

Creative writers often use comparisons known as

figures of speech to imply their meanings.
The two most common figures of speech are
similes and metaphors.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature / Figures of Speech

Simile

A simile is a comparison introduced with like, as,

or as if. Can you identify the simile in this cartoon?

Snoopy writes about a pair of beautiful eyes that they

are like two supper dishes!

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature / Figures of Speech

Simile

In the quotation from Middlemarch, George Eliot

uses two similes.
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary
human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and
the squirrels heart beat . . . .

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature / Figures of Speech

Metaphor

A metaphor is an implied comparison, with like,

as, or as if omitted.
The 23rd Psalm in the Bible is the source of some
of the worlds best-known metaphors, including:
The Lord is my shepherd.
The comparison suggests that God is like a
shepherd who looks after his sheep.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Literature / Figures of Speech

Metaphor

Here are some other metaphors:

The movie was a bomb.
Her disapproval was an ice pick to my heart.
To people searching for information, the
Internet is a vast candy store of facts.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

At the beginning of this presentation, you made
inferences about a picturethis cartoon of the dog:

Other pictures that require inferences are tables

and graphs.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

Tables and graphs

combine words with
visual representations.

To infer the ideas presented in tables and graphs,

you must consider all the information presented.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

Steps in Reading a Table

or Graph

Following a few simple steps will help you find and

make sense of the information in a table or graph.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

1 Read the title.

It will tell you what the table or graph is showing
in general.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

1 Read the title.

What is the title of this
graph?

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

2 Check the source.

At the bottom of a table or graph, you will
usually find the source of the information, an
indication of the reliability of its material.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

2 Check the source.

What is the source of this
graph?

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

3 Read any labels or captions at the top, the side,

or underneath.
These tell exactly what each column, line, bar,
number, or other item represents.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs / Steps in Reading a Table or Graph

Label 1

Label 5

Label 2

Label 3
Label 4

3 Read any labels or captions at the top, the side,

or underneath.
This graph has five labels.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

Based on the information in the graph, which statement is a

logical
A.inference?
Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

B. Our REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs at

about the same time as our deepest sleep.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

A. Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

The graph shows that we are in our deepest sleep in the
Statement
a logical inference.
first three
hours A
orisso.
B. Our REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs at
about the same time as our deepest sleep.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

A. Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

Our REM sleep occurs in the second part of our sleep cycle,
but our deepest sleep occurs in the first part.
B. Our REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs at
Statement
is not a logical
about the same time as our
deepestBsleep.
inference.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences

Inferences in Tables and Graphs

Our deepest sleep occurs early in the sleep cycle.

Again, we have made a leap from information presented

directly to an idea that is not presented directly.

CHAPTER 6 Inferences