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Inference, Conclusion, Main Idea and Relevant Details. Identify central idea or theme; analyze theme over the course of a text (LACC7.RL.1.2).
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Inference, Conclusion, Main Idea and Relevant Details Identify central idea or theme; analyze theme over the course of a text (LACC7.RL.1.2)
For example, instead of making a direct statement, “These people are rich and influential,” an author could imply that idea by describing a palatial residence, expensive heirlooms, and prominent friends. • An inference is what we mean by “reading between the lines,” because the suggestion, rather than the actual words, carries the meaning. Aninference is a meaning that is suggested rather than directly stated. Inferences are implied through clues that lead the reader to make assumptions and draw conclusions.
Inference from Cartoons Cartoons and jokes require you to read between the lines and make a connection. They are funny because of the unstated rather than the stated. When listeners catch on to a joke, it simply means they have made the connection and recognized the unstated inference. As a rule, when you have to explain the inference in a joke, the fun is lost. You want your audience to make the connection and laugh uproariously.
Look at the following cartoon and read the caption. Can you determine the inference or implied meaning?
Recognizing Suggested Meaning In reading, as in everyday life, information may or may not be stated outright. For example, someone’s death would seem to be a fact beyond question. An author could simply state, “He is dead,” but often it is more complicated than that. In literature and in poetry, such a fact might be divulged in a more dramatic manner, and the reader is left to put the clues together and figure out what happened. Read the following excerpt from a story about a shipwrecked crew’s struggle to shore. What clues tell you that the oiler is dead? In the shallows, face downward, lay the oiler. His forehead touched sand that was periodically, between each wave, clear of the sea. —The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane
The oiler’s head is face down in the shallow water. When the waves rush in to shore, his face is in the water, and when they wash out, his face or forehead touches the sand. He is bobbing at the water’s edge like a dead fish and cannot possibly be alive with his face constantly underwater or buried in the sand. The man must be dead, but the author doesn’t directly state that. Two paragraphs later in the story the author writes: The welcome of the land to the men from the sea was warm and generous; but a still and dripping shape was carried slowly up the beach, and the land’s welcome for it could only be the different and sinister hospitality of the grave. —The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane The “still and dripping shape” and the “sinister hospitality of the grave” support your interpretation of the clues, even though the author still has not directly stated, “The oiler is dead.”
Connecting Prior Knowledge Authors, like cartoonists, use inferences that require linking old knowledge to what is being read at the time. Just as in making the connection to understand the punch line of a joke, the reader must make a connection in order to understand the inference.
Practice with prior knowledge TITLE: THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOOTING After seeing the light in the North Church, Paul Revere and William Dawes rode through the countryside alerting the colonists that British troops were moving across the back bay. In Concord and Lexington, trained militiamen were waiting to respond. Where and approximately when was this? Link prior knowledge to answer the question that follows the passage.
Recognizing Slant in Language • Connotation • Denotation The dictionary definition of a word is its denotation, but the feeling or emotion surrounding a word is its connotation.
For example, a real estate agent showing a rundown house to a prospective buyer might refer to the house as “neglected” rather than “deteriorated.” Both words mean rundown. Neglected sounds as if a few things have been forgotten, whereas deteriorated sounds as if the place is rotting away and falling apart. The overall result of using connotation is to shift the reader’s attitude toward the author’s point of view, positive or negative.
Quick Check • Indicate whether the boldface words in the following passage is positive or negative, and explain your answer. • Opponents forecast that the increased labor cost from a large minimum-wage hike would jeopardize hundreds of thousands of unskilled jobs. • In the United States and other highly developed countries, infectious disease accounts for about 4% to 8% of deaths, compared with death rates of 30% to 50% in developing regions.
Drawing Conclusions Readers use both stated and unstated ideas to draw logical conclusions. They use the facts, the hints, and their prior knowledge to piece together meaning. The facts and clues lead to assumptions, which then lead to conclusions. Read the following example and answer the question.
MY HOUSE My master still went to school every day and, coming home, he’d still bottle himself up in his study. When he had visitors he’d continue to complain about his job. I still had nothing to eat so I did not become very fat but I was healthy enough. I didn’t become sick like Kuro and, always, I took things as they came. I still didn’t try to catch rats, and I still hated Osan, the maid. I still didn’t have a name but you can’t always have what you want. I resigned myself to continue living here at the home of this schoolteacher. —Excerpt from I Am a Cat, by NatsumeSoseki Conclusion: The narrator of the book is a cat. What clues suggest this conclusion?
➤ What is an inference? An inference is an implied meaning that is not directly stated but can be deduced from clues. Inferences require linking old knowledge to what is being read at the time. ➤ Why are jokes funny? Jokes and cartoons are funny because of the implied meaning understood by the teller and the audience.
➤ What is the effect of connotation in language? Connotation manipulates the reader’s attitude in a positive or negative manner toward a subject. ➤ How do you describe drawing conclusions? Conclusions are generalized meaning based on clues that incorporate what you already know with what you have just discovered.
