Inferences
Inference questions ask what a passage implies without stating it directly — what you can reasonably conclude from the details a writer chooses to include.
His great fondness for the theatre was further shown by his choice of the actor, Ludwig Geyer, as one of his intimate friends. Although his choice of this friend was no doubt mainly due to his love for the theatre, he at the same time introduced into his family the noblest of benefactors; for this modest artist, prompted by a warm interest in the lot of his friend’s large family, so unexpectedly left destitute, devoted the remainder of his life to making strenuous efforts to maintain and educate the orphans.
How deeply the homeless artist, hard pressed by life and tossed to and fro, longed to feel himself at home in a sympathetic family circle, was proved by the fact that a year after his friend’s death he married his widow, and from that time forward became a most loving father to the seven children that had been left behind.
A writer doesn’t always say what they mean outright — often they show it through specific details, word choice, and what a person does rather than a direct statement of character. Inference questions ask you to draw a reasonable conclusion from that evidence, not to guess wildly beyond it.
The safest inferences stay close to the text: they’re the conclusion a careful reader would reach from the details actually given, not an assumption pulled from outside knowledge or a stretch that the passage doesn’t support. If you can’t point to the specific words that justify an answer, it’s probably too big a leap.