Inferences
An inference is
an educated guess we reach conclusions based on evidence from a text
The central idea of a story or text is
the most important point the author wants you to understand.
Context clues are
hints found within a sentence, paragraph, or passage that a reader can use to understand the meanings of new or unfamiliar words.
How many text structures can an author use?
5
Alice grew so big that she bumped
her head on the ceiling and started
to cry. Her tears made a big flood in
the hallway. She got smaller
because of a fan she picked up
and swam through her tears. Alice
met a mouse who was also
swimming. Alice thought the mouse
might be French and said, "Where is
my cat?" in French. The mouse
didn't like that and wanted to get
away.
Part A: Why is the mouse upset?
A: Alice asked about a cat.
B: Alice cried too many tears.
C: Alice spoke in bad French.
Part B: Which sentence supports your
answer in Part A?
A: Alice met a mouse who was also
swimming.
B: Alice thought the mouse
might be French
C: Alice said, "Where is my
cat?" in French.
Part A: A: Alice asked about a cat.
Part B: Alice said, "Where is my
cat?" in French.
A hen living on a farm finds some
wheat and decides to make bread
with it. She asks the other farmyard
animals for help planting it, but they
refuse. The hen then harvests and mills
the wheat into flour before baking it
into bread. At each stage, she again
asks the animals for help, and they
refuse. Finally, the hen has completed
her task and asks who will help her eat
the bread. This time the animals
accept eagerly, but the hen refuses
them, stating that just as she made
the bread herself, she will eat the
bread herself.
Q:
Which word would best describe the
other farmyard animals?
A thankless
B lazy
C hardworking
D distracted
B: Lazy
Some animals have stronger senses
than humans. Dogs, for example,
have powerful noses. Sniffer dogs
help find people who are trapped.
They tell the rescue workers where
the victims are. These dogs also
smell bombs and alert the police.
Eagles and hawks have extremely
sharp eyes. This helps them see
small rodents from far away.
Elephants and cats can hear
sounds that humans cannot. Bats
and dolphins have echolocation.
They can send out sound waves.
These waves help find prey.
Q: What is the central idea?
A: Dogs can be very helpful to humans.
B: Many animals have stronger senses than
humans.
C: Birds have amazingly sharp vision.
D: Bats have a special sense called
echolocation.
B: Many animals have stronger senses than
humans.
Once upon a time, a beautiful
princess lived. She was the prettiest of
three sisters. Her beauty made the sun
stop to shine upon her. One day she
met a frog. He helped her after she
dropped her golden ball into a pond.
The Frog Prince recovered the ball for
her in exchange for her friendship. The
princess agreed reluctantly and
unhappily to be his friend. Later the
Frog Prince magically transformed into
a handsome prince. The frog's spell
was broken when the frog spent the
night on the princess's pillow.
Q: What does the word reluctantly show
about the Princess’s attitude toward
the Frog Prince?
A: The Princess thinks he is gross.
B: The Princess hates him.
C: The Princess is very willing.
D: The Princess has better things to do.
A: The Princess thinks he is gross.
What are the names of all five text structures?
Cause and effect
Chronological
Compare and contrast
Description
Problem/Solution
Stegosaurus was a big dinosaur that was 40 feet
long and 9 feet tall. It weighed 6,800 pounds. It
had five toes on each front foot. It had three on
each back foot. People once thought their
bones came from giant horses. Stegosaurus had
plates on its back. They went along its spine.
They were not solid bones. Instead, they helped
Stegosaurus control its body temperature. Many
scientists think they helped Stegosaurus soak up
heat or cool off.
Q: Why did the author write this passage?
A: to compare a Stegosaurus
to other dinosaurs
B: to describe a Stegosaurus
C: to explain why a
Stegosaurus has plates
D: to show why the
Stegosaurs was big
E: to create an interests in
the Stegosaurus
B: to describe a Stegosaurus
C: to explain why a
Stegosaurus has plates
Changing electrical energy to light was first
shown as early as 1801. However, it took
more than 100 years to make a light bulb.
The British inventor Sir Joseph Swan made the
first successful light bulb. In 1850 he used
paper strings in a glass bulb. By 1860 he
revealed a working bulb. He received a
British patent.
Fifteen years later, Swan tried to improve his
design. He used thread. But most importantly,
very little oxygen. This allowed the thread to
glow white-hot. Swan received another British
patent in 1878. This was about a year before
Thomas Edison.
Q: What inference can be made
about the invention of the light
bulb?
A: People were not that
impressed with the light bulb.
B: The light bulb creation was
difficult and not worth the
work.
C: The only working light bulb
came from Joseph Swan.
D: There was a light bulb before
Thomas Edison.
D: There was a light bulb before
Thomas Edison.
Gases are everywhere. The atmosphere
is a big layer of gas. This gas surrounds
the Earth. Gases can fill a container of
any size or shape. That is one of their
physical characteristics. Think about a
balloon. It could be any shape. It will still
be evenly filled with the gas particles.
Liquids can only fill the bottom of the
container. While gases can fill it entirely.
Compared to liquids and solids, gases
can also be compressed easily. For
example, you might see compressed air
in a spray bottle. Or feel the carbon
dioxide rush out of a can of soda. Those
are both examples of gas forced into a
smaller space. The gas escapes the first
chance it gets.
Q: What is the central idea?
A: Gases are usually found in
balloons.
B: Gases can be found in the Earth’s
atmosphere.
C: Gases fill an entire container and
can be compressed.
D: Gases try to escape the first
chance it gets.
C: Gases fill an entire container and
can be compressed.
When airplanes were yet to be
invented, the only way to soar
through the sky was to ride in a hot-air
balloon. A hot air balloon is just like
those you ride in amusement parks.
They work the same way: using the
differences in density to hurl the
balloon up. How exactly? Did you
know that a hot-air balloon has to be
heated before it flies? This is because
the particles inside the balloon are just
as dense as the particles outside the
balloon at the beginning. However, as
soon as the particles are heated, they
move more quickly, and as they
bump into each other more often,
they become less close together. As
less close together things float, the
balloon will rise.
Q: What does hurl mean as it is used in
the passage?
A: throw
B: push
C: hit
D: drive
B: push
At last, the Queen had a daughter. This
daughter had seven godmothers. They
were all the fairies they could find in the
whole kingdom. Every one of the fairies
offered her a gift. This was the custom of
fairies in those days. Everyone came to
the palace, where a great feast was
prepared for the fairies. There was a
wonderful table. It was covered with gold.
On top was golden silverware. All were
made of pure gold with diamonds and
rubies. But as they were all sitting at the
table, they saw a very old fairy enter the
hall. She had not been invited. For more
than fifty years, she had been alone. The
King ordered her a place at the table. But
he could not give her golden silverware.
He only made seven sets for the seven
fairies. The old fairy was upset by this and
muttered threats to herself.
Q: Which phrase describes the structure
of the passage?
A: comparison of problems
B: cause and effect
C: problem solution
D: descriptive
C: problem solution
A prince wants to marry a princess but
keeps meeting ladies he doesn't like. One
rainy night, a young lady shows up at his
castle. She is wet and dirty. She says she
is a princess. The prince's mom wants to
see if she's telling the truth. She puts a
pea in the bed the young lady will sleep
on, with many mattresses on top. In the
morning, the young lady says she didn't
sleep well because she felt something
hard in the bed. The prince is happy
because only a real princess can feel a
small pea in a big bed. They get married.
Part A: What is the theme?
A: A real princess is very sensitive.
B: Don’t judge a person by their
appearance.
C: You should not settle for anything
but the best.
Part B: Which sentence supports the
theme in Part A?
A: She is wet and dirty.
B: She says she is a princess.
C: the young lady says she didn't
sleep well
Part A: B: Don’t judge a person by their
appearance.
Part B: A: She is wet and dirty.
The surface we see on Jupiter is not
solid. This huge planet has a small
and rocky core. Liquids and gases
wrap around this core. They blend
with the atmosphere. Jupiter is a
stormy planet. A layer of clouds
always covers it. It is also very
windy. Wind speeds can be up to
273 miles per hour. The storms are
visible as swirls and spots. It has
one particularly violent storm. This
storm is about three times Earth. It
is known as the Great Red Spot.
This storm has been around since
at least 1831. Maybe even since
1665. That would make it more
than 300 years old!
Q: What inference can be made about
Jupiter?
A It is an interesting planet.
B It can support life.
C It always has a storm.
C It always has a storm.
Alice, a seven-year-old girl, was feeling
bored and drowsy while sitting on the
riverbank with her older sister. She
notices a talking, clothed white rabbit
with a pocket watch run past. She
follows it down a rabbit hole where she
suddenly falls a long way to a curious
hall with many locked doors of all sizes.
She finds a little key to a door too small
for her to fit through, but through it, she
sees an attractive garden. She then
discovers a bottle on a table labeled
"DRINK ME," the contents of which
cause her to shrink too small to reach
the key which she had left on the table.
She then eats a cake labeled "EAT ME"
as the chapter closes.
Q: What is the central idea?
A: Alice is bored one day.
B: Alice sees a talking rabbit.
C: Alice finds a little key, but the door
is too small.
D: Alice follows the rabbit down the
hole.
D: Alice follows the rabbit down the
hole.
There once was an extremely proud
princess. If a visitor came, she gave
him a riddle. If he was wrong, he was
sent contemptuously away. They
would then leave feeling less worthy.
She made it known that whosoever
solved her riddle would marry her.
Then came three travelers. The two
oldest were businessmen. They were
so successful in life that they thought
they could not fail. The third was a
little useless and did not have a job.
But thought he must have some luck
in this.
Q: What does the author mean by
saying the princess sent people away
contemptuously?
A: She was special.
B: She was cruel.
C: She was proud.
C: She was proud.
Animals can be harmed by noise
pollution. A good example is a
whale. Whales communicate with
each other by making sounds. The
sound can travel over long
distances through the water from
the one whale to the next. When
there are lots of ships present, they
make additional noise. Water
carries these noises very well and
very far. This makes it difficult for
whales to communicate with each
other. This can cause whales to
get lost in the ocean.
Q: Which phrase describes the structure of
the passage?
A: problem solution
B: descriptive
C: order of events
D: cause and effect
B: descriptive
One bright day in late autumn a family
of Ants were bustling about in the
warm sunshine, drying out the grain
they had stored up during the summer,
when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle
under his arm, came up and humbly
begged for a bite to eat. "What!" cried
the Ants in surprise, "haven't you stored
anything away for the winter? What in
the world were you doing all last
summer?” "I didn't have time to store
up any food," whined the Grasshopper;
"I was so busy making music that
before I knew it the summer was
gone.” The Ants shrugged their
shoulders in disgust. "Making music,
were you?" they cried. "Very well; now
dance!" And they turned their backs
on the Grasshopper and went on with
their work.
Q: What role does the Grasshopper have in
the passage?
A: He shows why the ants needed to
work so hard.
B: He provides an example of what
happens if you don’t prepare.
C: He helps create a fun element to the
story.
D: He explains why music is more
important.
B: He provides an example of what
happens if you don’t prepare.
The Ancient Egyptians lived along the
Nile River. It was called the "fertile river."
The river runs from the middle of Africa
up north. The Nile was very important to
life in Egypt. Floods every year cover the
land with fresh silt. This silt makes the land
very good for growing food.
People dug canals to grow more food.
These canals moved water from the river
to crops.
All around is the Sahara Desert. This dry
desert made people stay close to the
river. They needed the Nile to grow
crops.
Part A: What would happen if the Nile
dried up?
A: There would be less water flow.
B: Plants would grow larger.
C: The Egyptians would leave.
Part B: Which sentence supports your
answer in Part A?
A: The Nile was very important to life in
Egypt.
B: Floods every year cover the
land with fresh silt.
C: This silt makes the
land very good for growing food.
Part A: C: The Egyptians would leave.
Part B: A: The Nile was very important to life in
Egypt.
There are many simple things we can do
to save water. First, just by turning off the
tap while you brush your teeth in the
morning and before bedtime, you can
save up to 8 gallons of water! That adds
up to more than 200 gallons a month,
enough to fill a huge fish tank that holds
six small sharks! The same is true when you
wash dishes. Turn off the tap! Scrape your
dirty dishes into the trash—then put them
in the dishwasher. Second, taking a
shower uses much less water than filling up
a bathtub. A shower only uses 10 to 25
gallons, while a bath takes up to 70
gallons! If you do take a bath, be sure to
plug the drain right away and adjust the
temperature as you fill the tub. To save
even more water, keep your shower
under five minutes long—try timing
yourself with a clock next time you hop in!
Q: What is the central idea?
A: Two simple steps can save water.
B: Brushing your teeth can save water.
C: A shower uses less water than a
bath.
Part B: Which sentence supports the
answer in Part A?
A: There are many simple things we
can do to save water.
B: That adds up to more than 200
gallons a month.
C: Taking a shower uses much less
water than filling up a bathtub.
Part A: A: Two simple steps can save water.
Part B: A: There are many simple things we
can do to save water.
Alice attends a trial. There the Knave
of Hearts is charged with stealing the
Queen's tarts. The jury is different
animals. During the trial, Alice begins
to grow larger. The dormouse scolds
Alice. He tells her she has no right to
grow so big. Alice says she cannot
help it. Meanwhile, the Mad
Hatter displeases and frustrates the
King. He does this by not answering
the questions.
Part A: What does the author mean by
saying the Hatter displeases and
frustrates the King?
A: He is not helping.
B: He is not worthy.
C: He is the guilty one.
Part B: Why is this description of the
Hatter important?
A: It shows that he will help solve the
mystery.
B: It shows that he likes the King.
C: It shows that he can be difficult.
Part A: A: He is not helping.
Part B: C: It shows that he can be difficult.
Do you enjoy standing outside on
a warm summer day and feeling
the warmth from the Sun on your
skin? What about warming your
hands on a frosty cold morning in
front of a fire? You are feeling
heat! The Sun provides us with
light, but it also provides us with
heat. Heat can be found in many
different places. Anything that
provides us with heat is a source
of heat.
Q: Which phrase describes the structure of
the passage?
A: cause and effect
B: problem solution
C: order of events
D: descriptive
A: cause and effect
Alice, a seven-year-old girl, was feeling
bored and drowsy while sitting on the
riverbank with her older sister. She
notices a talking, clothed white rabbit
with a pocket watch run past. She
follows it down a rabbit hole where she
suddenly falls a long way to a curious
hall with many locked doors of all sizes.
She finds a little key to a door too small
for her to fit through, but through it, she
sees an attractive garden. She then
discovers a bottle on a table labeled
"DRINK ME," the contents of which
cause her to shrink too small to reach
the key which she had left on the table.
She then eats a cake labeled "EAT ME"
as the chapter closes.
Q: Which word describes Alice?
A: cautious
B: fearless
C: brave
D: curious
D: curious