Use Clues From a Text to Make Inferences

Read the sentence below.

Rowan’s stomach rumbled as he looked inside the empty fridge.

How is Rowan feeling in this sentence?

To answer this question, you need to use your inference skills.

Inference is where we use clues and evidence from a text to help us make a decision.

To infer something, you must think like a detective.

In our sentence above, did you spot the clues that Rowan was hungry?

Our stomachs rumble when we're hungry.

We also know that he will be hungry because there isn’t any food in the fridge.

Take a look at the next sentence.

Jack screamed and hugged his arm as he fell over.

How is Jack feeling here?

Can you see the clues telling us that Jack is in pain?

The sentence doesn’t use the words pain or hurt, but he’s doing things people do when they are in pain.

He is screaming and hugging his arm after falling over.

In this activity, we will infer character’s feelings from sentences and from a story. We need to make sure that we have our detective thinking-cap on!