S2 El Compre Skills Inference

CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School
Secondary 2 English Language
READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS

An inference is a logical conclusion that you draw from the facts supplied. In other words,
inference means __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________.

Example:

Deborah really wanted to buy the necklace, but when she saw the price tag she
handed it back to the salesgirl and left the store.

Q: Why did Deborah hand the necklace back to the salesgirl?

A1: She handed the necklace back to the salesgirl because she saw the price tag.

A2: On seeing the price tag, Deborah realised the necklace was too expensive.

Which answer would you choose? Why?

Read the following passage and answer the inferential questions that follow.

Last night my brother and I sneaked out of bed to watch a late night movie
on television. It was called ‘The House of Evil’. It began with a violent and
frightening scene in which a Japanese man murdered his young wife and her lover
with a sword before killing himself. A hundred years later, the house was rented by
a young American couple for a very reasonable US$250 a month. The couple was
told that the house was haunted but at such a low rate, they felt they could a
handle a ghost or two.

In fact there were three. At first the spirits of the angry husband and his victims
tried to budge their unwelcome guests out of the house with a few party tricks.
Plates fell off tables, masks flew off the wall, lights and taps switched themselves on
and off, but still the Americans failed to take the hint. Losing their patience, the
ghosts arranged a near-drowning for the man and a nasty fall from a tree for his
wife.

Questions:
1. Do you think that the writer and his brother told their parents that they were staying up late
to watch the movie? Why?

2. From the evidence in the passage, do you think the children knew that it was going to be a
horror movie?

3. Why did the ghost try to scare the American couple?

Did you know that… 1
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without 1
repeating a letter is ‘uncopyrightable’.


MAKING INTELLIGENT GUESSES
Many questions in comprehension exercises require you to make inferences. The
answer to the question is not given directly in the passage. Instead, clues are
given from which you have to guess the answer. You are required to ‘read
between the lines’ and make intelligent guesses.

For example, if you told this:

At last, the angry passengers were called to board the bus.

Question: Suggest why the passengers were angry.

(What would be the most likely reason for the passengers’ anger???)

Answer: The passengers were angry because the bus was delayed.

TWO KINDS OF INFERENCE
There are two kinds of inference:

• Logical Inference: __________________________

She cried as she stood beside the grave.
Q: Where was she when she stood beside the grave?
A: A cemetery. (Because a cemetery is where you find graves)

• Empirical Inference: _________________________
She cried as she stood beside the grave.
Q: Why was she crying?
A: She cried because someone she cared for had died.
(If you see someone crying near a grave, you would guess that the person in the
grave was someone important to her)

Both kinds of inferential questions require you to ‘read between the lines’, pay attention
to the clues in the passage and make an intelligent guess.

For logical inference (deduction) questions, you try to make a judgment about
something based on the information you have. To do this for a passage, you look
carefully at what is being described. It cold be an animal, an object, an event, a place.

Empirical inference (induction) is based on observation and experience. Hence, you have to
use your own knowledge to come up with an answer.



Now, attempt the inferential questions below.
Underline the clues and answer the questions.

1. The huge animal swung its trunk towards him.
Q: What attacked him? [1m]

2. They carried the coffin proudly in memory of her loving deeds.
Q: What ceremony is being described? [1m]

3. The smoke curled from the ashtray and the smell of burning tobacco filled the room.
Q: What was in the ashtray? [1m]

4. The barrel pointed at him. He could almost see the bullet in the chamber, instant
death, a lightening flash that would end his life if he moved to protest the action of
the soldier.
Q: Why did he feel threatened? [1m]

5. Tommy and John were hot and sweaty as they sat outside the principal’s office. Dirt
smeared both of their faces, and they could hear their teacher’s voice as she gave
Mr. Sim her account of what had happened. Tommy sneared at John, and John
returned the angry glare. As Miss Lee left Mr. Sim’s office, the boys hung their
heads so they would not have to look her in the eye
Q: Why did the boys hang their heads and avoided looking Miss Lee in the eye?
[1m]

References
Intermediate Reading Comprehension 1 by Ian Gordon, 2001. Oxford: Macmillan.
Score in Comprehension by Graeme Spencer, 1999. Singapore: Shing Lee


S2 El Compre Skills Inference

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