While we are doing multiple choices in our reading exercises, sometimes we can get the correct answers quickly from the passages, but sometimes we can’t get. Those easy choices are the restatements of ideas in the original paragraph. They give the same information in a different way. Those difficult choices are inferences (conclusions) that should be drawn from the information given in the paragraph.

Now let’s look at an example.

Example

Often people who hold higher position in a given group overestimate their performance, while people in the lowest levels of the group underestimate theirs. While this may not always be true, it does indicate that often the actual position in the group has much to do with the feeling of personal confidence a person may have. Thus, members who hold the higher positions in a group or feel that they have an important part to play in the group will probably have more confidence in their own performance.

a.     If people have confidence in their own performance, they will achieve high position in a group.

b.     If we let people know they are an important part of a group, they will probably become more self-confident.

c.     People who hold low position in a group often overestimate their performance.

d.     People in positions of power in a group may feel they do better work than they really do.

e.     People with higher positions in a group do better work than other group members.

Explanation

“b” is an inference that can be drawn from the last sentence in the paragraph. We know that if people feel they have an important part to play in a group, they will probably have more self-confidence. We can infer that we let people know (and therefore make them feel) that they have an important part to play, they will probably become more self-confident.

“d” is a restatement of the first sentence. People who hold higher positions tend to overestimate their performance: they may feel they do better work than they really do.