Inference: a listening workbook term

An inference is a conclusion you draw from clues rather than a detail directly stated in speech.

After a dinner invitation, this sentence may help explain a refusal. By itself, however, it does not state the final answer. The person could still attend late. Listen for the rest of the reply or the other speaker's response. Separate the words you heard from the conclusion you draw. An inference can be sensible without being certain.

Inferences help listeners connect events. If someone returns to a café because a bag was left there, you can order several events. You cannot conclude that the bag was recovered unless the story says or clearly shows that. A plausible ending is not the same as an attested ending. Keep a not stated field for this reason.

The workbook asks you to test inferences with a second pass. Write the candidate meaning, then look for a phrase that supports or rejects it. If two interpretations remain possible, keep both or mark unclear. This is not a failure to finish. It is a faithful report of the available evidence. Use the glossary's listening evidence entry to distinguish a clue from the conclusion it supports.

Use the term in these tasks

• Hear a polite refusal hidden inside a Portuguese reply
• Rebuild a Portuguese story after a spoken correction
• Track who and what Portuguese pronouns refer to

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