1. OSSLT Prep: Inferred Messages and Subtext
23/09/2018
OSSLT Prep: Inferred Messages and Subtext
What emotion is the woman feeling? Can we prove this?
In your head(!), what word is the woman thinking of?
OSSLT:
When we infer, we determine meaning based on evidence and reasoning provided, rather than directly stated information.

2. Infer: Multiple Choice
Consider the following sentence: Murderers are usually incarcerated longer than robbers.
What is the correct definition of the word “incarcerated” as it is used in the sentence above?
More evil
Imprisoned
More feared by society
Let out
Ridiculed
What is a possible subtext for this photo?

3. Infer: Multiple Choice
Consider the following sentence:
Dad gave credence to my story, but my mom’s reaction was one of total disbelief.
What was the dad’s reaction to the story?
He was angry at his daughter for lying.
He supported the mom and didn’t believe the story.
He believed the story.
He thought the mom’s reaction was wrong.
If we don’t know the word “credence,” we still know that the word “But” creates a contrast, suggesting that the father’s reaction is opposite from the mother’s reaction.

4. Infer: Short Answer
The following paragraph is often presented as a riddle, but it is really an exercise in inferred reading:
A man and his son are driving in a car. The car crashes into a tree, killing the father and seriously injuring his son. At the hospital, the boy needs to have surgery. Upon looking at the boy, the doctor says (telling the truth), "I cannot operate on him. He is my son.“
Explain how the doctor could be telling the truth.

5. Infer: Short Answer
When you are asked to use “full and correctly written sentences,” grammar and spelling will be graded as well as your answer.
Read the following passage:
"Mama, is it time to go?” I hadn't planned to cry, but the tears came suddenly, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand. I didn't want my older sister to see me crying.
"It's almost time, Ruri," my mother said gently. Her face was filled with a kind of sadness I had never seen before.
I looked around at my empty room. The clothes that Mama always told me to hang up in the closet, the junk piled on my dresser, the old rag doll I could never bear to part with--they were all gone. There was nothing left in the rest of the house. The rugs and furniture were gone, the pictures and drapes were down, and the closets and cupboards were empty. The house was like a gift box after the nice thing inside was gone; just a lot of nothingness.
-from "The Bracelet" by Yoshiko Uchida
Using full and correctly written sentences, Explain where Ruri is and where she has to go, using specific information from the passage to support your answer.

6. Want Extra Help to prepare for the OSSLT?
Task: Complete the two-page handout to practice making inferences
Want Extra Help to prepare for the OSSLT?
March Break Camp I Can – March at DSSS. Cost is $10.
See Ms. Stokes in the Student Support Office for sign-up, fee payment, questions.
Literacy Counting on You classes – Mondays after school starting this week – only 2 more weeks of instruction.
Visit our school website or for sample tests and extra practice.