1. Reading between the Lines: Making Accurate Inferences
Chapter 3
Reading between the Lines: Making Accurate Inferences

2. Objectives
You now begin to see implications in your reading. You will practice inferences with material of varying levels of difficulty including:
Facts and inferences
Inferences defined
Problems with inferences
Using evidence to make inferences
Making open-ended inferences
Making inferences in textbook material
Making inferences in literature
Making inferences with visual material

3. Facts and Inferences What is the difference?
A fact is a verifiable piece of information
It can be duplicated, measured, confirmed in other sources, demonstrated, or proved.
Inferences are derived from facts.

4. Definition of Inferences
"A statement about the unknown based on the known."
We read between the lines.
We connect facts to make sense of the situation when no explanation is offered or a future course of action.

5. Practice Exercise 1
Do Exercise 1 found on pp

6. Practice Exercise 1 answers
? There is no evidence that there was a thief.
? Are the college teacher and the professor the same person?
T There is an exact statement in the story that proves this to be true.
? There is no mention of the examination being or not being picked up by someone.
? We don't know if anyone picked up the examination.
? We don't know who turned off the lights.
? We don't know if the professor was a man or a woman
? We don't know who ran down the corridor.
F The drawer was opened.
? There could have been three or four people: We don't know if the professor and the college teacher were the same person.

7. Problems with Inferences
We may make assumptions that get in the way of making accurate inferences.
We may not read carefully enough or pay close enough attention to new vocabulary.
We may indulge in stereotyping. This problem is particularly evident in question 7, if we incorrectly infer that a professor is more likely to be a man than a woman.

8. Using Evidence to Make Inferernces
To make accurate inferences, consider carefully the writer’s words which are not written but surely intends by what he or she writes
evidence
The justification for inference
WARNING: Do not read beyond what is suggested or implied

9. Using Evidence to Make Inferernces
An inference must be tied to the evidence.

10. Using Evidence to Make Inferernces
How might inferences be identified?
Probably accurate (PA)
Based on facts presented
Probably inaccurate (PI)
Misstates or distorts the facts
Not in the passage
Insufficient evidence or no information

11. Activity found on pp
On the basis of the evidence in the paragraph of p. 82, identify the inferences. Then, study the author’s explanation for her responses.
Likewise, do p
Now, test yourself and do Practice Ex. 2 on pp

12. Practice Ex. 2, pp. 84-87, answersPI NP B. B D C. PA NP D. b

13. Making Open-Ended Inferences
How good is your judgment?
Making open-ended inferences asks you to draw your own inferences and state them in your own words.
Making the correct inference depends on your understanding of what you read

14. Making Inferences in Textbook Material
Textbooks are the perfect example of expository writing whose purpose is to inform and to present information.
However, don’t read blindly!
Check your understanding of inferences by labeling the inferences on pp

15. Making Inferences in Textbook Material
Answers to the inferences from pp PA NP PI

16. Making Inferences in Literature
Inferences are made in literature, too.
When the reader delves into the character’s mind and into the significance of his/her actions, inevitably, inferences are made by the reader.
What makes the character act the way he does?
Assessing the relationship of the character to his surroundings

17. Making Inferences with Visual Material
Cartoons
The careful reader must piece essential elements together in order to make connections
They mold public opinion
Graphs and Charts
Data is presented succinctly and in a readable format
To reinforce and clarify complex material

18. Making Inferences with Visual Material
Now respond to the questions on pp regarding unemployment

19. Making Inferences with Visual Material
Answers to questions on pp :
Operators, fabricators, and laborers
African-Americans 16-19
Unemployment is a chronic problem
The more education one has the more likely he or she is to be employed during recessions. The ratio is a little more than 3 to 1.
Limiting the statistics to those over 25 means that only full-time adult workers are included. Including people under 25 would distort the results, since they would be high school and college students who might not work full-time.