Complete a passage with a warranted inference
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| unsupported assumption/ʌnsəˈpɔːtɪd əˈsʌmpʃn/ | 无依据的假设 | wú yī jù de jiǎ shè |
| warranted inference/ˈwɒrəntɪd ˈɪnfərəns/ | 有依据的推断 | yǒu yī jù de tuī duàn |
A decision before an answer
- A conclusion can be reasonable in everyday life and still lack support in the passage. The SAT task asks what follows from these facts.
- Your goal: Combine stated facts to draw a supported conclusion.
Read the relationship
- Separate the facts stated from the connection you must infer. If two observations establish a contrast, the conclusion should preserve that contrast. Write a short bridge linking the evidence before reading the options; this makes an attractive but unrelated explanation easier to detect.
- Distinguish necessary support from a plausible outside explanation.
Original passage: “Rare requests took longer with the new system, although common requests were processed faster.” What follows?
The contrast supports a conditional advantage, not a universal one.
Use the defining rule
- An inference need not copy a sentence verbatim, but each essential step must be supported. A passage saying a tool detects a feature missed by another supports a difference in detection, not that the first tool is superior for every purpose. Domain knowledge cannot fill an unstated requirement.
- Preserve uncertainty and avoid causal overstatement.
Which phrase best preserves uncertain evidence?
Suggest and possible retain uncertainty.
Check the conditions
- Track qualifiers and alternative explanations. A pattern can suggest a possibility rather than establish certainty. If the passage acknowledges several possible causes, a completion blaming one cause exclusively is too strong. Check whether an option introduces new people, settings, motives or time periods.
- Preserve uncertainty and avoid causal overstatement.
Original passage: “Two sensors monitored the same bridge. Sensor A recorded brief vibrations that Sensor B did not register, but Sensor B operated successfully during colder periods when A stopped recording.” Warranted conclusion: the sensors had complementary strengths under the observed conditions. It does not follow that either is universally more accurate or that temperature caused every difference in detection.
An inference should follow from the passage’s ____.
The conclusion must be connected to supplied information.
Apply the task format
- For a conclusion at the end of a short passage, inspect the logical transition: therefore requests a consequence, while however may introduce a limitation. A grammatically smooth continuation can still be logically unsupported. Prefer the option whose claims require the fewest unsupported assumptions while fully answering the task.
- Preserve uncertainty and avoid causal overstatement.
Do not turn observed co-occurrence into a unique cause or widen a limited comparison into universal superiority.
Which answer fits this case?
Combine stated facts to draw a supported conclusion
A plausible outside explanation is enough for a passage-based inference.
Plausibility alone does not show support in the text.
Keep the distinctions
- warranted inference 有依据的推断 — A conclusion supported by the passage’s stated and implied information.
- unsupported assumption 无依据的假设 — A necessary extra claim not established by the available evidence.
- Combine stated facts to draw a supported conclusion.
- Distinguish necessary support from a plausible outside explanation.
- Preserve uncertainty and avoid causal overstatement.
Match each term with its precise meaning in this lesson.
Keep the distinctions stated in the teaching example.
Put this lesson’s reasoning or event sequence in order.
The order follows the stated process; check each stage before the next.