← 💬 English as a Second Language
Reading: gist, detail and inference
Reading short texts to understand the main idea, find details and work out what the writer means.
📌 Key points
- Gist means the main idea. Read quickly first to understand what the whole text is about.
- Details are small facts: names, numbers, dates, places and times. Scan the text to find them.
- Read the questions before you read the text, so you know what to look for.
- Underline the key words in the question, then look for the same or similar words in the text.
- The text may use a different word with the same meaning: big → large, begin → start.
- For true/false questions, check every part of the sentence. One wrong detail makes it false.
- To infer, use clues: if someone is yawning, they are probably tired.
- Be careful with small words like not, never, only, all and some. They change the meaning.
📖 Key words
- Gist
- The main idea of a text.
- Detail
- A small piece of information, such as a name or a number.
- Skim
- Read quickly to get the main idea.
- Scan
- Look quickly through a text for one particular thing.
- Infer
- Work something out from clues when it is not said directly.
- Key word
- An important word in a question that tells you what to look for.
✏️ Worked example
Read: 'Hi Lara, I'm at the sports centre with my brother. We're playing table tennis. Can you meet us at the café at 4 o'clock? Bring some money for a drink! Tom'
Where does Tom want to meet Lara, and when?
- Underline the key words in the question: where and when.
- Scan for a place: 'at the café'. (The sports centre is where Tom is now, not where they will meet.)
- Scan for a time: 'at 4 o'clock'.
- Answer: at the café at 4 o'clock.
The first place or number you see is not always the answer. Read the whole sentence carefully before you choose.
Test yourself8 questions from a bank of 22. A new mix every time.
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