Inference questions in TOEFL Reading ask what must be true given the passage; rhetorical purpose questions ask why the author put a sentence where it is. Both go one step beyond the words on the screen, and both are lost by candidates who take a bigger step than the text allows. These 40 items train the small, defensible move.
Infer, suggest, imply and indicate mean the answer is not written down. Why and in order to mean the answer is a function, not a fact.
Read the highlighted sentence, then the one before and the one after. Purpose is nearly always visible in the neighbours.
Say ‘this is an example of the claim above’ or ‘this is the exception’ before reading the options. Then choose the option that matches your label.
Ask what the passage forces you to accept, not what it makes plausible. If an option needs one extra assumption, it is the wrong one.
If the passage says some scholars, reject the option that says most or all. Matching the strength of the claim settles more items than any other check.
You may know the topic. That knowledge is not evidence here, and it is the fastest route to a confident wrong answer.
Before you confirm, name the sentence that makes the option safe. If you cannot name one, you are guessing.
Do the vocabulary and factual items for the passage first. Inference items reward the fuller picture you have by then, and they are the right place to spend the time you saved.
Not thisChoosing ‘workers never read fiction’ from ‘the most requested titles were technical manuals’.
ThisChoosing ‘workers borrowed mainly for practical reasons’.
Most requested does not mean only requested; the option turns a comparison into an absolute.
Not thisAnswering a purpose question by describing what the sentence says.
ThisDescribing what the sentence does.
A correct summary of the content can still be the wrong answer: the question asks for the author’s reason for including it.
Not thisUsing background knowledge about wolves, paper or libraries.
ThisUsing the passage only.
Distractors are written to match what a well-read candidate expects, so outside knowledge points straight at them.
Not thisChoosing the option with the most striking claim.
ThisChoosing the flattest defensible one.
Academic passages are cautious, and so are their correct inferences.
Not thisReading only the highlighted sentence on a purpose item.
ThisReading the sentence before it.
The claim a detail supports is usually in the previous sentence, which is why the detail is where it is.
Not thisAnswering ‘to entertain the reader’.
ThisAnswering with a function such as illustrate, contrast or define.
TOEFL passages are expository. Entertainment is not something the writing is doing.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with i.
5Complete with one verb beginning with m.
7Complete with one noun beginning with r.
8In one sentence, explain the difference between a factual question and an inference question.
One good answer
A factual question asks what the passage says directly, while an inference question asks what must be true given what the passage says, even though the text never puts it in those words.
10Complete with one superlative adjective beginning with s.
11Complete with one verb beginning with i.
14Complete with one noun beginning with p.
16Complete with one noun beginning with c.
17The author writes: “Not every colony followed this pattern. In the north, land was divided by lot.” Why does the author mention the north?
One good answer
To give an exception to the pattern just described, showing that the practice was common but not universal.
19Complete with one adjective beginning with w.
21Complete with one word beginning with a.
25Complete with one noun beginning with p.
27Complete with one verb beginning with s.
29Write one safe inference from this sentence: “Fishing boats returned to port half full for three seasons running, and the cannery closed in the fourth year.”
One good answer
The cannery most likely closed because catches had been falling for several years, leaving too little fish to process.
30Complete with one adjective beginning with l.
32Complete with one verb beginning with d.
34Complete with one noun beginning with e.
36Complete with one verb beginning with e.
38Complete with one quantity word beginning with m.
40Explain why “to entertain the reader” is almost never the right answer to a purpose question here.
One good answer
TOEFL passages are academic and expository, so a detail is included to illustrate, contrast, define or support a claim; entertaining the reader is not a function the writing is performing.
Note
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Before you confirm an option, say out loud which sentence forces it. If your justification contains the words “probably” or “it makes sense that”, you have taken a step the passage did not license.
About the writing, not the person. You are describing the job a sentence does in its paragraph: giving an example, marking an exception, defining a term, supporting the claim above it.
Because they are written to match what an informed reader expects about wolves, libraries or paper. Plausibility in the world is not support in the text, and that gap is what the item is measuring.
Yes, and they should. Answer the vocabulary and factual items on a passage first; by the time you reach the inference items you know the text better and can afford the extra half minute each.
Then read the last sentence of the paragraph before it. A sentence in that position usually links back to what has just been established or announces what the paragraph will do.