Observations and Inferences

Which of the following statements is an inference about the picture

• The vase is broken.

• The girls' bow is blue and purple.

• The girl broke the vase.

• The girl has blonde hair.

What can you "infer" by reading the passage below?

• Taylor can be a mean girl.

• Taylor is relaxed.

• Taylor is somewhat nervous.

• Taylor is afraid of everything.

The boy is in the water.

• inference

• observation

If the boy crawled out of the water, the goat would push him in.

• inference

• observation

There are three rocks in the pond.

• inference

• observation

Nicole came out of the elevator in her apartment building. She ran to the curb and held up her arm to hail a taxi. When she hopped in, she said, “Please take me to 34545th Street.”
You can infer that...

• Nicole's car is broken.

• Nicole is going on vacation.

• Nicole is going shopping.

• Nicole lives in a large city.

The boy was outside. The buses are gone and the hallways are empty. What can you infer?

• He was waiting for a taxi.

• He needed to go to Target.

• The boy missed his bus.

• He was late to lunch.

When writers do not state the way a character feels, the writer will include details that readers must use to make inferences or form opinions about how a character feels. When you make inferences, you use:

• Dictionaries and Wikipedia to locate answers.

• Your own imagination and ignore the text.

• Clues from the text, background knowledge, and experiences you've had.

• None of the above.

Bill and Sid collect cans. They sell the cans to a recycling center. Lately business has been so good that they have divided their work in half. Bill's area includes a park where teams play baseball every day. Sid collects cans from the office buildings and stores.

Is the following sentence a fact or inference?

Bill and Sid earn more money now than when they started.

• Fact

• Inference

_{The sailboat belongs to the boy.}

• inference

• observation