Reading Solutions Inferences and Generalizations

INFERENCE is...

• A logical conclusion

• A guess based on evidence

• Both

In your daily life, you can make inferences about people by observing their behavior.

• true

• false

You've made many inferences in your life, but you might not even know it. For instance, your cat runs up to you the minute you step through the door. She meows, rubs your legs, runs into the kitchen and stares at the cupboard where you normally store the cat food. It doesn't take much effort to figure out that your cat wants food. You've just drawn an inference.

You draw many inferences in your everyday life?

• TRUE

• FALSE

Drawing Inferences Let's go back to your cat and apply the process for making an inference. At first, you might wonder what your cat is doing. You look for clues in your cat's behavior and notice how she meows and rubs your legs to get your attention and how she stares at the food cupboard. You also think about what you already know from past experience; your cat has done this before, and you've responded by giving her food. So you put those two pieces together in a logical way and correctly infer that your cat wants food. Drawing an inference from a book follows the same process of drawing inferences in your everyday life?

• True

• False

What is the first step readers must take to draw an inference?

• Put the pieces together in a logical way to produce a reasonable conclusion

• Think about what they already know from their own experience in the real world

• Look for clues in the text

What is the second step readers must take to draw an inference?

• Put the pieces together in a logical way to produce a reasonable conclusion

• Think about what they already know from their own experience in the real world

• Look for clues in the text

What is the main purpose of making inferences while reading?

• To understand the explicit content

• To guess the author's next book

• To draw conclusions based on evidence

• To memorize the text

Which of the following is an example of a generalization?

• All birds can fly

• Some cats are black

• The sun rises in the east

• Water is wet

In the sentence 'She inferred that he was upset from his tone of voice,' what does 'inferred' mean?

• Stated directly

• Guessed without evidence

• Concluded from evidence

• Ignored

What is a key difference between an inference and a generalization?

• An inference is a guess, a generalization is a fact

• An inference is based on specific evidence, a generalization is a broad statement

• An inference is always correct, a generalization is not

• An inference is a broad statement, a generalization is based on specific evidence