Reading: explicit detail, inference and relationships
| English | Français |
|---|---|
| inference/ˈɪnfərəns/ | inference |
| causal relationship/ˈkɔːzl rɪˈleɪʃənʃɪp/ | causal relationship |
A decision before an answer
- An inference may go beyond a quotation, but it must remain within what the text supports.
- Your goal: Separate directly stated details from supported inferences.
Read the relationship
- Read an ACT passage for both its overall movement and its details. Build a paragraph map using a few words per paragraph, then return to the relevant lines when answering. A detail item asks what the text states; an inference item requires a conclusion supported by those details. Neither licences filling gaps with outside knowledge or a familiar story.
- Track causes, contrasts and chronological relationships.
Why did Mina group paired parts?
The observation of a repair and improved retrieval support the reason.
Use the defining rule
- Relationship questions may compare characters, explain a cause, establish sequence or connect a local detail to the whole. Distinguish chronology from cause: after does not by itself mean because. Track changes over time and the particular evidence making a contrast meaningful. If the text qualifies a claim, keep that qualification in the answer.
- Reject conclusions requiring information outside the passage.
Which conclusion is supported?
The passage directly contrasts reduced symmetry with faster service.
Check the conditions
- Compare options for scope and certainty. All, never, only and proves may exceed a passage saying some, often or suggests. A plausible motive is weaker than a motive supported by reported action or speech. Narrative uncertainty can be deliberate; do not resolve it more definitely than the narrator does.
- Reject conclusions requiring information outside the passage.
Original extract: “At first, Mina sorted the workshop’s spare parts by size, as the previous keeper had done. She could find a large bolt quickly, but visitors still waited while she searched for the matching washers. After watching a mechanic collect both parts for a repair, she placed commonly paired pieces together. The shelves looked less symmetrical. The waiting line, however, moved faster. Mina kept one drawer in the old arrangement because its rarely used pieces had no regular partners.” Explicit: she retained one drawer in the old arrangement. Supported inference: she valued practical retrieval over a fully symmetrical display. Cause: the observed pairing exposed a weakness in sorting by size alone. Unsupported: she disliked the previous keeper, or the new scheme improved every drawer.
Mina retained ____ drawer in the old arrangement.
The final sentence states one drawer, not all or none.
Apply the task format
- The original extract is a short targeted case. Complete enhanced Reading practice also needs sustained long passages, paired texts and graphic information under the correct component timing. Use paragraph mapping here without treating this exercise as a full-length 36-item form or a scaled-score predictor.
- Reject conclusions requiring information outside the passage.
A character’s action may support a priority without proving an unreported emotion or universal benefit.
Which answer fits this case?
Separate directly stated details from supported inferences
Events occurring in sequence always establish causation.
A causal link needs evidence beyond chronological order.
Keep the distinctions
- inference 推断 — A conclusion supported by textual evidence rather than stated verbatim.
- causal relationship 因果关系 — A supported connection in which one condition contributes to another.
- Separate directly stated details from supported inferences.
- Track causes, contrasts and chronological relationships.
- Reject conclusions requiring information outside the passage.
Match each term with its precise meaning in this lesson.
Keep the distinctions stated in the teaching example.
Put this lesson’s reasoning or event sequence in order.
The order follows the stated process; check each stage before the next.