Predictions, Questions, & Inferences

Making predictions, asking questions, and making inferences while reading will improve your comprehension of the texts.

tools of prediction

To predict is to make an informed guess about what will be or happen.

Before reading a text, LOOK at it. You can tell a lot from a passage's text features.

What genre of writing do you predict it will be? Will it be an informational article, a poem, a story, a play, or an argumentative essay? If it's a story, is it realistic fiction, a fable, or some other type of story? If it's a poem, what kind of poem?

What is the likely topic of the text? If it's an informational text, what will it be about? If it's a story or a poem, what do you think will be the subject matter and setting?

While reading a text, you will confirm or correct your predictions. Your predictions won't always be right, and that's okay! As you read on, you can make new predictions about what will come next, based on the passage's text structure and genre.

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boy with question marks

When you ask yourself questions, you prepare your mind to look for answers.

Before reading, ask questions that will help you predict the text's genre and topic.

While reading an informational text, ask questions like—

What is the central idea of the text?

What are the key ideas and supporting details?

How did the author organize the information? Why?

How do any text features help me understand the text?

While reading narrative texts, ask questions like—

What are the relationships and conflicts among characters?

What are the main themes, or messages, in the text?

How do the historical and cultural settings affect the plot?

What figurative language does the author use?

From what point of view is the story told?

In a play, what effect do stage directions and scene changes have?

While reading poetry, ask questions like—

What sound devices does the author use?

How does the author use imagery to paint a sensory picture?

Are the author and speaker of the poem the same person?

While reading argumentative texts, ask questions like—

What is the author's claim?

Is the author arguing for or against something?

What facts does the author use to support the argument?

Who is the intended audience, or reader?

Does the author use rhetorical devices or flawed reasoning
to persuade?

After reading any text, you can still ask yourself questions like—

What did I learn from reading the passage?

How does what I learned relate to my own life, or society in general?

What didn’t I understand? How can I make it clearer?

In a story, what were the specific plot elements?

Did characters undergo any changes? How?

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dog detective looking for clues

To infer is to make a guess based on reasoning and evidence, or clues.

Making Inferences gives you more information than is actually written down.

While reading stories and poems, look for clues about a character’s or speaker’s thoughts, feelings, personalities, and even past experiences. You may find clues in how characters behave, talk, dress, and interact. Also look for clues in the author's use of imagery and other language.

While reading informational articles, look for clues about how ideas are related to each other. Does one thing cause another? Is something a possible solution to a problem? Are two ideas or topics in a text similar, or different? What is the logical order of presentation? You may find clues in the author's choice of words and text structure.

Besides clues in the text, you should also use your own experiences and outside knowledge from other texts and sources to make inferences about what you are reading.

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REMEMBER: It is important to be an active reader. You comprehend what you read better when you actively make predictions, ask questions, and make inferences as you read.

Predictions, Questions, & Inferences - Combined

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