(that is, making inferences or inferring). In language learning, inferencing
has been discussed as a learning strategyused by learners to work out
grammatical and other kinds of rules. In comprehension of both written
and spoken texts, several different kinds of inferencing are thought to play
a role:
1 Propositional inferencesare those that follow on logically and necessarily
from a given statement.
2 Enabling inferencesare related to causal relationships between events or
concepts.
3 Pragmatic inferencesprovide extra information which is not essential to
the understanding of a text, but which expands on it.
4 Bridging inferencesare those that are needed if a text is to be understood
coherently.
5 Elaborative inferences are not actually necessary to understand a text.inferential comprehensionn
see reading
inferential statisticsn
also inductive statistics
statistical procedures that are used to make inferences or generalizations
about a population from a set of data. Statistical inference is based on
probability theory. A variety of different statistical techniques are used to
determine the probable degree of accuracy of generalizations about the
population from which a sample or set of data was selected.
see also descriptive statistics, statistics, t-test, analysis of variance
infinitiven
the base formof a verb (e.g. go, come).
In English the infinitive usually occurs with the infinitive marker to
(e.g. I want to go) but can occur without to as with auxiliary verbs
(e.g. Do come! You may go). The infinitive without to is known as the
bare infinitiveor simple form. The infinitive with to is sometimes called
the “to-infinitive”.
The infinitive is a non-finite form of the verb (see finite verb).
infinitive of purpose n
the use of the infinitive to express reason or purpose. For example:
I went to France to study French.
inferential comprehension