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Skill Explainer

3.3 Sentence Level Inferencing

Inferencing Skill Explainer

Marion McBride, M.Ed.

Inferencing means making thoughtful guesses about something you’re reading using …

  • What we read
  • What we see
  • What we already know

Inferencing allows us to make meaning of things even when we don’t have all of the information.

The ball (basketball) cleared the rim (basketball rim) for one point (free throw) to tie the game.
By organizing information from the the sentence, a student can infer from that the basketball game will be tied with one free throw.

We know there’s a game happening. We read that in the sentence, and Sung Hee tells us basketball is a game that has a ball and a rim. You’re on the school basketball team, right Sung Hee? We know from the text that one point was just scored, and that tied the game. And Marco, you’re a big Wizards fan. You told us that you score one point in basketball with a free throw. So what do you think is happening? What can we infer?

The sleeping ants were unaware of the silver scoop (spoon) that plunged into the sea of white crystals (sugar).
The smoke curled above the fire (campfire) and cast shadows on the tent (camping). We could smell the burning sugar (roasting marshmallows).

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