ELT365 · Day 171 — Inference — reading between the lines

Idea — Inference is the ability to understand what a text implies but does not state. It draws on word choice, tone, context, and cultural knowledge. It is a higher-order skill often assessed at B2 and above.

Example — ‘She closed the door quietly.’ The text doesn’t say she was upset, but the adverb implies it. Learners who infer this are reading beyond surface meaning.

Try — Choose a short dialogue from any textbook. Ask: ‘What does this person really feel? What word or phrase tells you that?’ Make inference visible.

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