Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009 Chapter Six: More About Inferences From this chapter, you’ll learn 1.how we make inferences all the time without realizing

Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

Chapter Six: More About Inferences

From this chapter, you’ll learn1. how we make inferences all the time without

realizing it.

2. how writers don’t supply readers with every single detail essential to their point but instead rely on readers to add information to the text.

3. how to tell the difference between logical and illogical inferences.


6.1 Defining Terms: Inferences

Inferences are• conclusions we draw about the unknown based upon the known.• educated guesses about something that’s

been implied, or suggested, but never said directly.• central to understanding an author’s or

speaker’s meaning.• the result of reading between the lines.


6.1 Inferences in Daily Life

• If someone says, “Hey, what’s up?” we infer that they are not asking about the state of the ceiling but about our state of mind.

• If someone makes a joke, we often supply the background information for the punch line, “If you look like the photo on your driver’s license, you aren’t well enough to drive.”


A Word to the Wise

Much as you draw inferences all the time in everyday life, you constantly draw inferences when you read. But here again, you may not always notice when you do. For example, taken together, the following picture and caption make what point?


Those who have contributed the most to global warmingprobably won’t be the ones paying the highest price.


6.2 Drawing Inferences as a Reader

What’s the author’s point?a. Polar bears have contributed heavily to global

warming, and they are going to pay the price because the icebergs they rely on for mobility are melting.

b. Humans have contributed heavily to global warming, but polar bears are paying the price

because the icebergs they rely on for mobility are melting.


6.2 Even Pictures with Captions Need Inferences from Readers

Most people choose answer b. It seems the obvious answer. However, to arrive at that obvious answer, we have to infer that the author had the following thoughts in mind when writing the caption for this particular picture.


6.2 Reader-Supplied Inferences1. Humans are the ones usually mentioned as contributors to global

warming.2. The melting of icebergs has been repeatedly cited in the news as a

consequence of global warming.3. Because icebergs are melting, polar bears are getting stranded in Arctic

waters when they fish.4. Polar bears rely on icebergs as places to rest on periodically when they fish.5. Dying in the Arctic seas will be the price that polar bears pay as a result

of global warming they did not cause


6.2 Inferences in Sentences Even the simplest storylines require the help

of inferences to be understood, for instance:

“Miranda was ironing her favorite blouse for work when she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. When she returned to her ironing, after a lengthy chat with her neighbor--who had brought over some mail

delivered to the wrong address--Miranda was horrified to see the horseshoe-shaped burn on what had once been her favorite blouse.”


A Word to the Wise

It’s all but impossible for writers to put every thought essential to meaning on the page. They rely on readers to add information to the text by drawing logical inferences, or conclusions. Those inferences are based on a combination of the author’s words and the reader’s background knowledge.


6.2 Inferences in Paragraphs

Like sentences, paragraphs don’t always put everything into words. Often readersare expected to infer the main idea.


6.2 What’s the implied main idea?

Biographers of the New England, local color writer Sarah Orne Jewett always mention how Jewett adored her doctor-father. They never seem to notice that in Jewett’s fiction, doctors and fathers don’t do very well. Jewett’s fictional fathers are inclined to sacrifice their families in the name of their own extravagant dreams and social schemes. Driven by their desires, they never seem to notice the suffering they cause others. It’s also true that Jewett’s fictional doctors are inclined to be arrogant and are frequently shown up by female healers, who rely on home remedies rather than fancy medical treatments.


6.2 Taken together, what do the supporting details suggest?

a. Jewett was very good at portraying the flaws of pompous doctors and self-serving fathers.

b. Jewett’s fiction suggests that her admiration for her father may have had some anger mixed in.

c. Jewett may have adored her father, but as a local colorist, she was still inclined to follow the literary tradition of making men look silly.


Just So you Know

The local color literary tradition began after the Civil War ended in 1865, when writers all across the United States were concerned that the war’s devastation, along with the spread of cities and industry, were destroying the customs, speech, and look of different regions in the United States. Writers like Sarah Orne Jewett in the North, Sidney Lanier in the South, and Bret Harte in the West tried to preserve the characteristics of their region in the fiction they created. They also tried to show the value of the regional traditions that were fast disappearing under the onslaught of industrialization and passing time.


6.3 Defining Terms: Logical Inferences

Logical Inferences are• based on the author’s words more than your

personal experience and opinions.

• not contradicted by anything else said in the passage.

• capable of being explained or proven by the other sentences in the paragraph.


6.3 Defining Terms: Illogical Inferences

Illogical inferences• favor the readers experiences and opinions more

than the author’s words. • are based on a few words rather than the

majority of sentences in the paragraph.• may be contradicted by statements in the

paragraph.• divert readers from the intended meaning,

sending them off on a train of thought not implied by the author.


A Word to the Wise

The final test of an inference is how it fits in with what the author actually says. Take, for instance, the paragraph on Sarah Orne Jewett. If a reader had read a biography that stressed Jewett’s warm relationship with her father and wanted to infer that the passage focused on the benefits of father-daughter bonding, the reader would be off the mark. That inference does not match up with the author’s words, which describe negative images of fathers. In reading, it’s the actual text--not the reader’s background knowledge--that is always the final test of an inference.


6. 3 What’s the logical inference you could draw from the following paragraph?

In an effort to help ranchers protect their sheep fromcoyotes, researchers injected dead sheep with a poisonand left the carcasses strewn in pastures, where the wolvescould find and eat the remains. As intended, the poison madethe coyotes horribly sick. Within a short time, the coyotes, who had been routinely slaughtering live sheep for their dinner, stopped. In fact, it wasn’t long before the coyotes ran away at the very sight or smell of sheep, and sheep had been crossed off the coyote menu.

Guess Who’s Not Coming for Dinner?


6. 3 Which implied main idea is the most logical inference?1. The sheep had learned how to outsmart and get away from the coyotes.

2. After the coyotes associated eating the sheep with getting sick, they didn’t want to hunt them them anymore.

3. The poisoned sheep carcasses didn’t taste very good, so the coyotes decided to hunt different prey that tasted better.


6.3 Distinguishing Between Logical and Illogical Inferences

Inference 2 is the logical inference because it follows from the information supplied by the author.

We can say that eating the ill-tasting sheep stopped the coyotes from killing because according to the paragraph,

1. the killings stopped after the coyotes ate the poisoned carcasses.2. the coyotes didn’t even want to see the sheep after eating some poisoned ones.


6.3 Distinguishing Between Logical and Illogical Inferences• Implied main idea 1, about the sheep outsmarting

coyotes, is not a logical inference. There’s no mention in the paragraph of the sheep being either smart or dumb.

• Implied main idea 2, about the sheep not tasting very good, doesn’t fit the information in the paragraph.

It might account for why the coyotes stopped eating the sheep, but it wouldn’t explain why they began to run away at the sight of the sheep. That detail only works with implied main idea 2: The coyotes associated the sheep with being sick.


Just So you Know

The description of how the coyotes came to associate the sheep with being sick and therefore avoided them is a good example of what’s called classical conditioning, or associated learning. This kind of learning occurs when a formerly neutral or even pleasant object or experience gets associated with something positive or negative. In a famous experiment based on classical conditioning, experimenters banged a hammer on a steel bar each time a little boy reached out to touch a white rat he had once considered a pet. When the experiment ended, the little boy was afraid of the bell and the white rat.


Finishing Up: More About Inferences

You’ve previewed the major concepts and skills introduced in Chapter 6. Take this quick quiz to test your mastery of those skills and concepts, and you are ready to read the chapter.



1. True or False. Readers sometimes have to draw inferences to get the main idea of a paragraph, but sentences can stand on their own and don’t require any reader-supplied inferences.

2. True or False. If a writer is really good, readers never have to supply inferences to help create meaning.



3. Can you identify the characteristics of a logical inference?

4. Can you describe the characteristics of an illogical one?

5. Read the following passage and draw a logical inference.



At first glance, hunger seems an easy word to define. It means wanting something to eat or having an appetite that will in time be satisfied. But is that what hunger is for people around the world? Not quite. For millions of adults and children everywhere, including the United States, hunger means a persistently recurring empty stomach that growls and cramps and seldom feels full. For others, hunger is a constant companion. These are the victims of war, famine, and back-breaking social inequality. In their world, hunger is a synonym for starvation. (Adapted from Kaufman and Franz, Biosphere, 2000, p.172)


Brain Teaser Challenge


Brain Teaser Challenge

When advertisers employ images of gorgeous men and women using their

products, what inference are they hoping consumers will draw from seeing a beautiful woman carrying a Kate Spade handbag or a good-looking man drinking José Cuervo?

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Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009 Chapter Six: More About Inferences From this chapter, you’ll learn 1.how we make inferences all the time without realizing