How do you infer from literature?

• A. It relies only on explicit statements.
• B. It relies exclusively on prior knowledge.
• C. Make conclusions based on observations and prior knowledge.
• D. Copying the author's thoughts.

Answer: (C)

Inferring from literature means reading clues in the text and using your own background knowledge to understand things the author only implies, not states directly. The best approach is to make conclusions based on observations in the text and prior knowledge, because inference blends what you see with what you already know to uncover deeper meaning about characters, motivations, or themes. Relying only on explicit statements misses those implied ideas, while relying solely on prior knowledge can distort the text, and copying the author’s thoughts isn’t inference at all.