TOEFL Reading: Inference and Rhetorical Purpose

✅ What is it about? Inference & Rhetorical Purpose questions want you to identify information or understand an idea that is not explicitly stated in the reading passage but can be inferred within it.

✅ What is it about?

Inference & Rhetorical Purpose questions want you to identify information or understand an idea that is not explicitly stated in the reading passage but can be inferred within it.

✅ How does the question sound?

Inference Question

📍Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about XYZ?

📍The author of the paragraph implies that XYZ

📍Paragraph XYZ suggests which of the following about ZYX

Rhetorical Purpose Question

📍Why does the author mention XYZ?

✅ How to answer?

The first option you can have is getting rid of the wrong answers. By leaving only answers you are confident in, you can maximize your chance of guessing the correct answer. It is called Smart Guessing.

Next, if it is the Inference Question, look at the key ideas of the answer choices. They should be supported by the sentences in the reading passage.

If it is the Rhetorical Purpose Question, focus on the first two words like "to support", "to explain" etc. It will help you to get a perspective on how to deal with the questions.

Do not pick what is not mentioned, or contradict and misrepresent information that is in the reading test.

✅ Sample question

Inference Question

The Neolithic Period had an important impact on the further development of various tools and the history of humans’ settlements around the world. To begin, it is essential to comprehend the main differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras in order to carry out a perspective of how the revolutionary shift to agriculture was for all humanity. One of the examples which happened due to agriculture, including religion and trade, was the development of the class system. In the Paleolithic era, hunter-gatherers would divide tasks between each other like seed gathering, grinding, or toolmaking, etc. However, as the new era was coming, it started to bring more labor required projects like irrigation, plowing, and terracing to satisfy the needs of farming. Those projects called for "leaders" that would be in charge of controlling and managing inhabitants who would execute them. Task-dividing idea became old and needed a replacement as it did not meet the societies' demands. Therefore, the establishment of classes was inevitable. In the end, ruling elites appeared that were not part of the Paleolithic.

Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the agriculture shift that happened in the Neolithic Era and its impact on new inventions?

Which one do you think is the right answer? Leave your explanations to the chosen answer in the comments below.

A. Due to the large-scale projects, more labor was needed to implement them which lead to the formation of the ruling class and casting out others.

B. Agriculture brought a lot of new inventions to people during the Neolithic era, including trade, religion, and the class system.

C. Seed gathering, grinding, and toolmaking were outdated kinds of tasks that needed to be replaced with more labor demanding projects.

D. Development of the class system was inevitable as societies demanded to have large-scale projects and shift to agriculture.

Rhetorical Purpose Question

The Neolithic Period had an important impact on the further development of various tools and the history of humans’ settlements around the world. To begin, it is essential to comprehend the main differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras in order to carry out a perspective of how the revolutionary shift to agriculture was for all humanity. One of the examples which happened due to agriculture, including religion and trade, was the development of the class system. In the Paleolithic era, hunter-gatherers would divide tasks between each other like seed gathering, grinding, or toolmaking, etc. However, as the new era was coming, it started to bring more labor required projects like irrigation, plowing, and terracing to satisfy the needs of farming. Those projects called for "leaders" that would be in charge of controlling and managing inhabitants who would execute them. Task-dividing idea became old and needed a replacement as it did not meet the societies' demands. Therefore, the establishment of classes was inevitable. In the end, ruling elites appeared that were not part of the Paleolithic.

Why does the author mention that the ruling elite appeared that were not part of the Paleolithic?

Which one do you think is the right answer? Leave your explanations to the chosen answer in the comments below.

A. To support the author's idea that the establishment of ruling elites was inevitable that became a new invention of the Neolithic Era.

B. To explain why the society needed the new ruling class and what the consequences it had for the whole of humanity

C. To provide evidence that the elite class was a necessary invention for the agricultural shift in the new era.

D. To support the claim that large-scale projects were overrated and society was not in need of the ruling class but in the end, it still occurred.