Inference made from the Text for class 5 English

Concept : Infer Character Emotions

What is a Character in a Story?

Characters are integral parts of a story. They often help in conveying the message of the story by being a mouthpiece of several virtues or values. Without characters there cannot be any story since the story itself is a narrative of the different nuances of the characters.
In most stories, these characters are not static but they grow with the development of the story. Their growth may be proportional to the external change in situation or the growth can be a part of their adaptation to the people around them.

What is the character’s emotion?

Emotions play a very crucial part in characters. It is the necessity of a story. A character’s emotional reaction is a response to the dramatic journey that a character undergoes and it brings an inner transformation in the character.The emotions in a character intensify the readers’ capability to understand who the character really is. The moment we realize how the character is emotionally affected by conflicts; we start caring about the character.

How do we infer a character’s emotion from a text?

We identify a character by their words and actions because we are not aware of their core nature. Therefore, we assume their emotions and feelings on the basis of our observation of their behavior and their speech.
The author drops valuable hints about the significant emotional exchange between characters that help us to understand the state of mind of the characters. Sometimes it is not explicitly understood from the narrative but some words depict the hidden emotion behind characters.

Action:
Authors use the action of a character and his or her own demonstration of those actions to assist the readers to understand the emotion or feelings of that character.

Example:

Suhana was looking here and there. She was constantly
rubbing one hand against the other and drank two glasses
of water at quick intervals.
From this example, we can recognize what Suhana is feeling nervous or anxious.
Dialogue:
When an author uses dialogue, he gives us a closer look at the character. It can tell the reader a lot about what the character is feeling by showing emotions through their words. A reader is able to fathom the character’s emotion through his or her tone of voice, how he or she communicates or interacts with others, and the way the words are uttered.

Example:

“I can’t wait for the weekend”, said Rahul.
Why? What will happen on the weekend?” his friend Ashok asked.
“My family and I are going on a long trip to Kerala. I
have never been there before. I can’t wait to see lush
green mountains”, said Rahul.
From the above dialogue, we understood that Rahul is very happy. He is excited about the trip.

Common Mistake

If we don’t observe what the character is doing and saying, we will never be able to understand what the character is feeling. Readers must concentrate on the characters to get to know the characters better.

Concept : Make Inferences about Character Traits from the Text

Definition:

Character traits are certain features of the personality of an individual that defines his or her character.
Each person is different in some way from the other person. None of them is completely similar to another in every respect.
In literature, over the course of a plot, a character's traits may change.

Types of Character Traits:

There are different character traits we typically find in various characters. The traits can be broadly classified into three categories. They are positive, negative, and neutral.
Let us observe some of these traits
Positive - helpful, jolly, frank, hardworking , obedient, etc.
Negative - adamant, stubborn, rude, talkative, etc.
Neutral - introvert, traditional, lonely, etc.

List of traits:

Character Traits
adventurous	anxious	ambitious	annoyed
angry	arrogant	afraid	busy
brave	bossy	bad	childish
cheerful	calm	careful	clumsy
confident	depressed	dishonest	disrespectful
determined	evil	excited	energetic
foolish	friendly	frustrated	funny
helpful	hard-working	honest	hopeful
imaginative	impatient	independent	impolite
intelligent	jealous	kind	lonely
lazy	loyal	loving	messy
mischievous	mean	mysterious	nervous
nice	naughty	obnoxious	polite
proud	quiet	responsible	rude
sad	selfish	serious	shy
stubborn	spoiled	smart	sweet
sneaky	trustworthy	talented	thankful
unhappy	upset	weak	worried

How can we infer character traits from a text?

To identify character traits, we can follow the points mentioned below:

Look at the character and observe what action the characters are performing.
Look what the character is feeling. Look for the changes in the character’s thinking or behaviour.
Observe the dialogue the author used for the character.
Keep track of whatever details the author mentions or artists portray regarding a character's outward appearance.

Action:
We can infer the character traits of a person based on his or her activity. In order to assist readers in comprehending the personalities of the characters. Authors often use the actions of the characters and their own descriptions of those actions.

Example:

Rohit accidentally knocked over the doorcase as he walked
out of his room. He took a few more steps and then tripped
over a staircase and collapsed on the ground.
Dialogue:
A character's personality can be shown to the reader in great detail through dialogue or a conversation between two or more persons. Based on what a character says or refrains from saying, we as readers can infer what that character truly is. Dialogue gives a character a voice and depicts the conflicts or reactions more vividly.

Example:

“I always like to stay on my own. I usually don’t attend
parties. I find a unique pleasure in thinking over some
innovative idea for a long time, and staying locked up in my room rather than meeting soo many people at one
time”, said Pramod.

From the above dialogue, we can identify Pramod’s character traits. Pramod is a reserved, reticent, and creative man. Such details help us to draw a picture of Pramod in terms of his character that can be expressed effectively with the help of words that denote his characteristic traits.
Appearance:
Take note of any outside physical characteristics that the author says about a character or that are depicted in images.

Example:

The man had long hair and was dressed in torn clothes. It
looked like he hadn’t had a shower in days. There was
a broken box in his hand that had some papers and a
blanket inside. He looked to have lost his way and was
unable to tell us properly what he was exactly looking
for.
What do we understand about the traits of the man from the above description?
He must be a poor man. He may even be weak physically from travelling a long way and not being able to take care of himself for a long time.
Feelings:
The author will occasionally express what the character is feeling about certain things that are happening around them. This provides the reader with more details so they may better relate to and comprehend the character.

Example:

We own four stores. My mum purchased a new vehicle for
me. We have hired four maids to work in our large home.
My father has just returned from a business trip, and he
bought expensive gifts from abroad.
The above example shows that a speaker is a boastful person.

Common mistake:

You must carefully study the story in order to infer character features; otherwise, you won't be able to comprehend the character adequately.
The character traits must support the action, dialogue, or feelings of the character. We can’t use random traits that don’t match the character.

Concept : Prediction

Definition:

Prediction is the art of interpreting or making an opinion from the information available.
It involves anticipating and making an opinion based on a given situation.
Prediction makes the reader connect to their knowledge and experience what they see, feel, and observe at present.
It is not always necessary that the prediction can be just one, rather there can be multiple predictions that can be obtained from the same information.
The information that is used in prediction can be in any form, not just text but in the form of images, graphs, etc.

Examples :

It was a wonderful day. Anushka and her family decided to spend this weekend at the Morni hills. They packed enough dry food and some necessary things for trekking and adventure sports.
- Predict how they spend their day.
They participated in different adventure activities. They trekked up the hill. Some of them participated in paragliding. They stayed in a camp at night in the forest. They must have had a very refreshing experience.
Neha’s mother had given her some work to go out with her friends. Neha, instead of finishing her work, began to watch television. Neha’s mother came inside the room and found her watching television.
- Neha gets a lot of scolding from her mother.
- Neha turned off the television and finished her work.

How does prediction help us?

It helps to judge or assume future events based on the available information.
Prediction enhances the imaginative power of students.
Prediction make students to think actively out of the box to arrive at some conclusion.
Prediction improves the comprehension skills of learners as it makes them observe every information more carefully.
Sometimes readers can predict the theme of the passage or moral of the story just by having experience of the style of the author and his dominant tone if they have come across his writing in the past.

Common Mistake

We need to be very attentive to the available information in the form of images or text to make the right prediction.

Examples :

It was a wonderful day. Anushka and her family decided to spend this weekend at the Morni Hills. They packed enough dry food and some necessary things for trekking and adventure sports.
Here, we can see the clues given in the description, like ‘trekking’ and ‘adventure sports’. Even the image gives us many such clues, like the parachute, camp etc.