MEETING 12

INFERENCE QUESTIONS AND

PURPOSE QUESTIONS

A. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To explain how to make or take an inference over a passage.
2. To explain how to guess the purpose of a passage.
B. THE AIMS OF THE TOPIC
1. Students are able to make and determine the inference which is indirectly stated
in a passage.
2. Students are able to anticipate or guess the best statement which shows the
purpose of writer in a passage
C. GUIDANCE AND METHODS OF LEARNING
1. Lectures
2. Discussions
3. Presentations
4. Practices
D. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION

I. Inference Questions
As in the Listening Comprehension section. There are questions in the
Reading Comprehension section that require you to make inferences. The answers
to these questions are not directly provided in the passage-you must "read between
the lines." In other words, you must make conclusions based indirectly on
information in the passage. Many test-takers find these questions the most
difficult type of Reading question.
Inference questions may be phrased in a number of ways. Many of these
questions contain some form of the words infer or imply.

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  Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
 It can be inferred from the passage that ...
 The author implies that ...
 Which of the following does the passage imply?
 Which of the following would be the most reasonable guess about ____?
 The author suggests that ...
 It is probable that ...
There will probably be from five to eight of these questions per Reading
section.

Sample Item
A star very similar to the Sun is one of the nearest stars to Earth. That star is
Alpha Centauri, just 4.3 light-years away. Other than our own Sun, the nearest
star to the Earth is a tiny red star, not visible without a telescope, called Proxima
Centauri.
It can be inferred from this passage that
(A) Proxima Centauri is similar to the Earth's Sun.
(R) Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Earth.
(C) Alpha Centauri is invisible from the Earth.
(D) Proxima Centauri is less than 4.3 light-years from the Earth.

Choice (A) is not a valid inference; Alpha Centauri is similar to the Sun, but
Proxima Centauri is "a tiny red star." Choice (B) also cannot be inferred; the
closest star to the Earth is our own Sun. Nor can (C) be inferred; Proxima
Centauri is invisible, but there is no information as to whether Alpha Centauri is.
Since Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light-years away, it can be inferred that Alpha
Centauri, the closest star, is less than that.

II. Purpose Questions

These questions ask why the author of a passage mentions some piece of
information, includes a quotation from a person or a study, or uses some particular
word or phrase.

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 Sample Questions
 Why does the author mention ____?
 The author refers to _________ to indicate that ...
 The author quotes _________in order to show ...
 The phrase ______ in line ________ is mentioned to illustrate the effect of ...

Sample Answer Choices

 To strengthen the argument that _____
 To provide an example of _____
 To challenge the idea that ____
 To contradict _____
 To support the proposal to _____

III. Exercise 12.1

There are usually from one to four purpose questions per Reading section.
Focus :Identifying valid inferences based on sentences.
Directions :Read each sentence; then mark the one answer choice-(A), (B), or (C)-
that is a valid inference based on that sentence. The first one is done as
an example.

1. Cities founded around the turn of the eighteenth century, such as Williamsburg,
Annapolis, and especially Philadelphia, were laid out on a regular grid with
public squares, while cities laid outin the mid-seventeenth century, such as
Boston, remain chaotic to this day.
_____ (A) Philadelphia is today laid out more regularly than either
Williamsburg or Annapolis.
__√__ (B) Boston was not originally laid out according to a logical plan.
_____ (C) Philadelphia, Williamsburg, and Annapolis were founded before
Boston.

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2. When apple growers talk about new varieties of apples, they don't mean
something developedlast month, last year, or even in the last decade.
___ (A) Apple growers haven't developed any new varieties in recent decades.
___ (B) Some varieties of apples can be developed in a short time, but others
take a longtime.
___ (C) New varieties of apples take many years to develop.
3. Blood cholesterol used to be thought of as a problem only for adults.
___ (A) Blood cholesterol is no longer a problem for adults.
___ (B) Only children have a problem with blood cholesterol.
___ (C) Blood cholesterol affects both adults and children.
4. A metal-worker of 3,000 years ago would recognize virtually every step of the
lost-wax processused to cast titanium for jet engines.
___ (A) Titanium has been forged for thousands of years.
___ (B) The lost-wax method of casting is very old.
___ (C) Metal working has changed very little in 3,000 years.
5. There is more quartz in the world than anyone kind of feldspar, but the feldspars
as a group arefive times more common than quartz.
___ (A) One type of quartz is five times more plentiful than feldspar.
___ (B) Quartz is less common than the feldspars.
___ (C) The most common type of feldspar is as plentiful as quartz.
6. Compared with the rest of its brain, the visual area of a turtle's brain is
comparatively small sinceturtles, like all other reptiles, depend on senses other
than sight.
___ (A) No reptile uses sight as its primary sense.
___ (B) Animals that depend on sight all have larger visual areas in their brain
than turtles do.
___ (C) The visual areas of other reptile brains are comparatively smaller than
those of turtles.
7. Contrary to popular belief, there is no validity to the stories one hears of initials
carved in a treeby a young boy becoming elevated high above his head when he
visits the tree as an old man.
___ (A) Trees don't grow the way many people think they do.

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 ___ (B) If a child carves initials in a tree, it won't grow.
___ (C) Over time, initials that are carved into a tree will be elevated.
8. Illegible handwriting does not indicate weakness of character, as even a quick
glance at thepenmanship of George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or John
Kennedy reveals.
___ (A) Washington, Roosevelt, and Kennedy all had handwriting that was
difficult to read.
___ (B) A person's handwriting reveals a lot about that person.
___ (C) The author believes that Washington, Roosevelt, and Kennedy all had
weakcharacters.
9. William Faulkner set many of his novels in and around an imaginary town,
Jefferson, Mississippi,which he closely patterned after his hometown of Oxford,
Mississippi.
___ (A) William Faulkner wrote many of his novels while living in Jefferson,
Mississippi.
___ (B) The town of Oxford, Mississippi, exists only in Faulkner's novels.
___ (C) Faulkner actually wrote about his hometown but did not use its real
name.

10. Most fish take on, to a certain degree, the coloration of their natural
surroundings, so it is notsurprising that the fish inhabiting warm, shallow waters
around tropical reefs are colored all thebrilliant tints of the rainbow.
___ (A) Tropical fish are unlike other fish because they take on the coloration of
theirenvironment.
___ (B) Tropical fish are brightly colored because they inhabit warm waters.
___ (C) Tropical reefs are brightly colored environments.
11. Although sheepherding is an older and more beloved occupation, shepherds
never caught theattention of American filmmakers the way cowboys did.
___ (A) There have been more American films about cowboys than about
shepherds.
___ (B) Films about shepherds were popular before films about cowboys.
___ (C) Cowboys are generally younger than shepherds.

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12. The Okefenokee Swamp is a fascinating realm that both confirms and
contradicts popular notionsof a swamp, because along with huge cypresses,
dangerous quagmires, and dim waterways, theOkefenokee has sandy pine
islands, sunlit prairies, and clear lakes.
___ (A) People generally feel that swamps are fascinating places.
___ (B) The Okefenokee has features that most people do not associate with
swamps.
___ (C) Most swamps do not have huge cypresses, dangerous quagmires, and
dim waterways.
13. As an architect, Thomas Jefferson preferred the Roman style, as seen in the
University of Virginia,to the English style favored by Charles Bullfinch.
___ (A) The University of Virginia was influenced by the Roman style.
___ (B) Bullfinch was an English architect.
___ (C) Jefferson preferred to build in the English style of architecture.
14. In all cultures, gestures are used as a form of communication, but the same
gestures may havevery different meanings in different cultures.
___ (A) No two cultures use the same gestures.
___ (B) One gesture will never have the same meaning in two cultures.
___ (C) A person from one culture may misunderstand the gestures used by a
person from another culture.
15. Even spiders that do not build webs from silk use it for a variety of purposes,
such asconstructing egg sacs and nursery tents.
___ (A) All spiders build webs.
___ (B) Spiders that build webs don't build egg sacs or nursery tents.
___ (C) Silk is used by all spiders.

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