Quoting Accurately to Support Inference

1. Display the passage: "Mara's grandfather had kept the boatshed key on a nail by the door for forty years. On the morning after the funeral, the nail was empty. Mara's mother searched the kitchen drawers twice, then stood at the window with her arms folded, looking at the shed. "He must have lost it," she said. Her mother was cross, but not with Mara. Mara said nothing. The key was in her coat pocket, wrapped in a handkerchief, and every time her mother turned away she pressed her hand flat against it, as if it might try to leave."
2. Show three strips: (A) "The key was in her coat pocket, wrapped in a handkerchief." (B) "Mara's mother searched the kitchen drawers angrily." (C) "He must have lost it," she said.
3. Ask: which strip is not what the page says? Students check each strip against the passage, finger under every word.
4. Answer to fish for: B. The page says "searched the kitchen drawers twice." Swapping "twice" for "angrily" adds a feeling the author never gave her — the change is one word, and it changes what we think of the mother.

“One word changed, and now the mother is angry when the author only said she was thorough. That is why we check quotations against the page, not against our memory.”

1. Ask: what does Mara feel about the key? Take answers, then write the inference on the board: "Mara is not ready to let her grandfather go, so she is keeping the key secretly." Point out that the passage never says this.
2. Ask: which words made you think that? Students highlight. The best evidence is "pressed her hand flat against it, as if it might try to leave."
3. Model the dropped-in version and label it weak: "Mara is not ready to let go. 'The key was in her coat pocket.'" Ask what is wrong. Answer: the quotation sits alone and does not say why it proves anything.
4. Model the integrated version: "Mara keeps checking the key, pressing her hand against it 'as if it might try to leave,' which suggests she is afraid of losing the last thing of her grandfather's she can hold." Underline the three parts: my words, the quoted words, what they show.
5. Show the honest ellipsis: "Mara's mother 'searched the kitchen drawers ... then stood at the window.'" The meaning survives the cut.
6. Show the dishonest ellipsis: "The text says 'Her mother was cross ... with Mara.'" Ask a student to read the full sentence aloud. The cut removed "but not," so the quotation now says the opposite.
7. Write the rule on the board: "A trimmed quotation must still mean what it meant."

“Your sentence has three parts: your words, the author's exact words in quotation marks, and what those words show. If the quotation could be deleted and your sentence still says the same thing, it is decoration, not evidence.”

1. Pairs answer two questions: (1) Why does Mara say nothing when her mother says "He must have lost it"? (2) What does the mother feel about the shed? Expected inferences: Mara is hiding the key on purpose; the mother is also grieving, shown by her standing "at the window with her arms folded, looking at the shed."
2. Each inference must be written as one sentence with an integrated quotation.
3. Pairs swap papers and check the partner's quotation against the passage word for word, circling any word, comma or capital that differs.
4. Take two examples to the board, one accurate and one with a slip, and fix the slip together.

“Your partner is the proof-reader, not the judge. Put your finger on the passage and your other finger on their quotation and move them together.”

1. Students complete the quotation page; the passage is printed on the sheet.
2. Remind them of the order: inference first, then find the words, then copy and check, then explain.

1. One volunteer reads an integrated quotation aloud. The class says thumbs up only if it was checked against the page and supports something the passage does not say outright.