MAKING INFERENCES: WHAT MIGHT/COULD HAVE

HAPPENED? WHAT MIGHT/COULD BE HAPPENING?

WHAT MIGHT/COULD HAPPEN NEXT?
Making inferences/inferring is a very useful – and higher level – skill. It is thinking about what happened before the
picture, what is going on in the picture and what will happen next. MIGHT and COULD are key words here! We do not
know for certain, but we can INFER. Our inferences must be based on EVIDENCE.

In this picture, decide which sentences are FACTS and which ones are
INFERENCES.
1. There are two happy little girls.
2. Their mothers have dropped them off at nursery school.
3. Their mothers or teachers are nearby.
4. Their parents will collect them and take them home.
5. They are nursery school pupils on a day trip with their teachers.
6. It is warm weather.
7. They are well-dressed children from good homes.

There are many facts about this picture: we can be certain that he is
a youngish man, he is in a study, he’s looking at a computer screen,
he has taken his glasses off etc… Can we be sure about any of the
following questions?
1. He is at home YES/NO
2. He has had bad news YES/NO
3. He keeps a diary YES/NO
4. He is very tidy YES/NO
5. It is summer time. YES/NO

Which of the following sentences can we find any evidence for?

1. The couple are lost.
2. They are looking at google maps.
3. They like each other and are in a relationship.
4. They are going on holiday.
5. The man owns the car.
6. They have two children.
7. He is 24 years old and she is 23.
8. They love dogs.
9. They are in a car.

Read the passage and replace the missing words:

This is probably an __Christmas_, because the man is drinking a
glass of wine. It is a _lockdown_ zoom meeting, not a business
meeting, because there are children involved. This family
__love_their dog, it is sitting there with the man and its toy bone
is there. It’s coming up to -family time, because some of the
people are wearing Christmas hats. It’s possibly during
_evening__, or the people would be able to meet up. The people
possibly haven’t met up for some time, as they are all happy and
smiling.
love, evening, Christmas, lockdown, family

Anything is possible, but to make an INFERENCE, we must be able to back the inference up with some evidence.
Inference is using observation and background to reach a logical conclusion. You probably
practise inference every day. For example, if you see someone eating a new food and they make a face, then
you infer they do not like it. Or if someone slams a door, you can infer that they are upset about something.

Maybe… possibly… likely… probably…It’s possible/likely/probable that… I can surmise… I think…. I assume… I believe…

Answer the questions. Justify your answers.

1.Where do you think she is? garden
2. How do you think she feels? happy
3. Where might she be going?
4. Where might she have been?
5. Who might have taken the photo?
6. What time of day could it be?

Which one is the most likely scenario? Justify your choice.

a) Mike was working at home and looking forward to

meeting his friend for lunch. Then, his friend texted him
to cancel.
b) He has just won £1,000,000 on the lottery!
c) He had won the contract, got started on the work, and
then, the company cancelled him and told him they had
got somebody else to do the job!

Choose the right word from the brackets:

Looking at this photo, I (think/know) that the student has

come top of the class. He must (has/have) had some
success, because he looks (too/so) happy. The teacher has
passed him his test paper back and he is
(reprimanding/congratulating him). The student must have
worked really hard to get his result. The other students
don’t look too happy – (surely/perhaps) they haven’t done
very well. (Might/Maybe) they are jealous!

We use MUST BE (present tense)/ MUST HAVE (past) when we are not sure, but there is only one likely reason.

You need two colours for coding. Colour the facts in one
colour and the inferences in the other. The cow is in the
river. There is a harness on her. People are trying to rescue
her. This cow must have fallen into the river. Maybe she
was grazing too near the edge? Or another cow might have
pushed her! Someone must have seen this and rung up the
emergency services. Another possibility is that she was on a
boat, being transported and she fell off it. Anybody
watching this must feel really upset and hopeful that the
cow will be OK.
Have a look at the photos. See how many
inferences you can make about them.