4 mistakes learners make with inference, each one named and explained.
An inference is what the words imply and the evidence supports, which is neither the literal surface nor a guess about motive.
A character who arrives first and leaves last is described as trying to impress the director.
It is a reasonable thing for a person to do, and inference has been understood as reading between the lines rather than reading from them.
Question. the first to arrive and the last to leave every rehearsal
A common answer. she is trying to impress the director
The answer. she is dedicated and hard-working
Why. Nothing in the line says anything about why, only about what she does.
Point at the words that prove it. If you cannot, it is a guess.
Asked what a description suggests about a character, the answer describes what the character did rather than what it reveals.
The question feels answered once the right part of the text has been found, and the last step of saying what it means gets left off.
Question. She checked her work twice before handing it in.
A common answer. she checks her work twice
The answer. she is careful and thorough
Why. The question asks what this tells you about her, not what she did.
Every inference answer needs a word about the person, not only about the action.
'She laughed loudly, but her eyes never quite smiled' is read as her finding it funny.
The first half of the sentence says exactly that, and the qualifier that reverses it arrives after the impression has already formed.
Question. She laughed loudly, but her eyes never quite smiled.
A common answer. she found it funny
The answer. she was not truly happy
Why. The but is there to cancel the laughing, and the eyes are the evidence.
Read to the end of the sentence. The word but usually turns it round.
'The wind cut through the streets like a blade' is read as the wind making a cutting noise.
Every word is being read carefully, which is the right instinct applied at the wrong level.
Question. the wind cut through the streets like a blade
A common answer. the wind was making a cutting sound
The answer. the wind was sharp, cold and painful
Why. The blade is there to tell you how the wind felt, not what it did.
Ask what the writer wants you to feel, not only what is physically described.
WAJD spots these patterns in your child's answers and names the one behind their wrong answers, instead of just marking them wrong.