Inferences

Inference questions give you a short text that ends with a blank and ask, "Which choice most logically completes the text?" The text lays out facts, a study, or an argument, and you have to supply the conclusion those facts lead to. The topics range across science, social studies, and the humanities, but no outside knowledge is needed.

• The answer follows directly from the information given. It is the next step in the reasoning, not a leap.
• Read the sentence with the blank carefully. Words like "therefore," "suggests," "unless," or "because" tell you what kind of conclusion is needed.
• Good inferences are usually modest: "may," "likely," "suggests." Strong words ("proves," "all," "never") are rarely justified by a short text.
• Pay attention to what a study did not test. If researchers only looked at one region, the conclusion should be limited to that region.
• If a text presents a puzzle (an unexpected result), the answer usually explains the puzzle.

Rule: predict the ending before you read the choices. Cover the choices, finish the sentence in your own words, then match.

In a survey of a town's community center, staff found that attendance at evening classes had dropped sharply since the town's only bus route stopped running after 6 p.m. Attendance at morning and afternoon classes did not change. These results suggest that ______

A) residents have lost interest in the center's classes. B) the lack of evening bus service may be keeping some residents from attending evening classes. C) the center should cancel all of its evening classes. D) morning classes are more popular than afternoon classes.

Prediction: "the bus change is hurting evening attendance."

1. A is contradicted: daytime attendance is steady, so interest has not dropped.
2. C is a recommendation, not a conclusion the data supports.
3. D compares morning and afternoon, which the text never does.
4. B links the only change (bus times) to the only affected classes (evening). Answer: B.

Historians studying a medieval monastery's library found that dozens of its manuscripts contain notes in the margins written in a local dialect rather than in Latin, the language of the main text. Because monks at the monastery were trained to write only in Latin, some historians have argued that the notes were added by visitors. However, the monastery's records show it rarely admitted visitors to its library, and several notes refer to daily tasks at the monastery. Taken together, these details suggest that ______

A) the manuscripts were originally written in the local dialect. B) visitors to the monastery wrote most of the notes. C) some people who lived and worked at the monastery may have written in the dialect despite their training. D) the monks did not understand Latin well enough to read the manuscripts.

1. The text sets up a claim (visitors wrote the notes) and then gives two problems with it: few visitors, and notes about monastery chores.
2. B repeats the claim the text is undercutting.
3. A contradicts the text: the main text is Latin.
4. D overreaches; nothing suggests the monks could not read Latin.
5. C explains both details and stays modest ("may"). Answer: C.

• Choosing the claim the passage is arguing against. When you see "some argue... however," the answer usually goes with the "however."
• Overreach. "The study proves" or "all species" from one small study.
• Using one detail and ignoring another. The correct answer must account for every clue the text gives.
• Outside knowledge. A fact you know from class is not an inference from this text.
• Recommendations instead of conclusions. "The city should..." is usually wrong unless the text is about what to do.