Sentences that lead you to draw a conclusion and make inferences are never written with clear and concrete specifics. These sentences are always full of clues to guide you. In the case of clues, the most significant ones will allow multiple inferences, pushing students to evaluate their choices critically. For example, if students were to read, “Tomorrow is never better than today,” then the students are forced to consider the meaning that the word “never” presents as a clue. Does the sentence mean that life is as good as it will ever get right now? Or does it mean that every day is equally sweet? This type of consideration will draw your students into thinking about choosing one conclusion over the other.
When writing, you can choose to clearly state what it is that you want readers to see, or you can choose to imply or implicate an idea by your words. When you imply, context is what readers will use to discern you are saying. This type of writing gives students critical thinking practice. For example, if you were to say, “My hair stays straight longer than yours,” then you will imply several things. One inference could be that something inherent about your hair makes it stay straighter longer. Another inference suggests that due to quality, one is better than the other. All of this can be gleaned by not stating one position clearly but allowing students to make their own inference.
An antonym is a word that presents an opposite. Antonyms are a very tricky and useful way of drawing the audience into making an inference and finding meaning of a statement without explicitly saying so. For example, you might present the following statement to a class, “Our football team has a great deal of talent but the other team played them with unskilled opposition.” This use of an antonym presents the teams in an opposite nature so even if you did not bluntly say, “Our team is good and their team is bad,” the inference is clear. At the same time, the use of antonyms increases your students' vocabulary and gives them a useful tool to communicate opposites without being direct.
Using contrasts allow you to take an idea and form a conclusion, placing one idea against another. An example would be, “John confirmed mother had lost a lot of weight but Jennifer held up a dress she had been wearing and started to laugh.” The contrast present is first noted with the word “confirmed,” suggesting that what was said had truth to it. The second part of the contrast appears with the dispute from Jennifer. Her behavior attempts to undermine the first position that the mother had in fact lost weight. This position is a second and contrasting position where the inference changes to reflect that she has not lost “a lot” of weight. The second half of the sentence changes the first part's inference to conclude something unexpected.