Reading Strategy: Make Inferences

Imagine that people enter a room wearing wet shoes and carrying umbrellas. Even though they haven’t told you, you’re able to figure out that it is raining outside. When you put together clues with what you already know, you are making an inference.

Reading Strategy Make Inferences
    How to Make Inferences

  • 1. Read the text. Look for ideas and facts that seem important to the author.

  • 2. Think of what you already know about the topic. Ask yourself: What facts and ideas do I already know about it?

  • 3. Combine what you read with what you know to figure out what the author has not told you directly. Ask yourself: What does the author leave unsaid about this topic?

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student made inferences using what he already knew.

Look Into the Text

For a few years, the National League and the American League never played baseball against each other. But, in 1903, things changed. Baseball officials decided to hold a series of games at the end of that year’s baseball season. They would call the event the World Series.

The author wants me to know that the sport has changed.

I know that my brothers and I like to watch the World Series every year.

“I combine what I know with what the author says. Baseball became so popular that they created the World Series.”

Practice Together

Reread the paragraph and think about what you know from your own experience to make inferences. Follow the steps in the How-To box. Put your sticky notes by the text above.