Working out what the text suggests but does not state directly: inferring feelings and motives from clues, combining several pieces of evidence, and justifying an answer with 'how do you know?' reasoning.
Where your child meets this in real life: Working out how a friend is feeling from how they act, or understanding what a character in a film really wants
SEAGReady breaks reading between the lines into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Infer how a character feels from a single clue in the text - their actions, body language or speech - when the feeling is never named.
Combine two or more separate clues from different parts of the text to infer something bigger, such as a character's motive or what has happened off the page.
Answer 'how do you know?' questions by naming the exact evidence in the text that supports an inference, choosing the quotation that genuinely proves the point.
Read the passages below, then try these free sample questions from our reading between the lines course. Every question comes with a full explanation, and hints that guide without giving the answer away.
Read the passage
At the end of 'Something in the Shed', Rory lies in bed 'with his eyes wide open, grinning at the ceiling' and cannot make himself fall asleep. How is Rory feeling?
Answer: A. excited
The writer shows the feeling instead of naming it. Rory is 'grinning at the ceiling' and 'however hard he tried, he could not make himself fall asleep' - with his birthday 'only two days away'. - grinning rules out bored, frightened and cross - sleeplessness plus grinning plus a birthday coming points one way Rory is excited.
Stuck? Start here: The feeling is never named. Find the last paragraph and collect the clues about what Rory is doing in bed.
In 'Something in the Shed', put ALL the clues together - the cleared shed, the red leathery 'small collar', the box with a picture of a bone, and Orla's doggy song. What surprise are Rory's parents planning?
Answer: A. A puppy for his birthday
Combine the clues: - the shed is cleared out (a place for something to live) - Mum hides 'something red and leathery, like a small collar' and 'a box with a picture of a bone on it' - Orla keeps singing 'How Much Is That Doggy in the Window' - Rory's birthday is two days away Every clue points the same way: a puppy for his birthday. The wrong options each fit one clue at most.
Stuck? Start here: List every strange thing that happens: the shed, Mum's hidden bag, the dinner-table looks, Orla's song, the birthday.
Read the passage
The lifeboat crew in 'The Night the Lifeboat Went Out' responded very quickly to the emergency. Which words from the passage PROVE it?
Answer: A. 'Within eight minutes, seven volunteers had left their dinners half-eaten'
A 'how do you know?' answer must quote words that prove the exact point. The point is that the crew responded QUICKLY, and only one quotation contains speed: 'Within eight minutes, seven volunteers had left their dinners half-eaten'. The other quotations describe the danger, the sea and the clean-up - true details, but they prove nothing about speed.
Stuck? Start here: The point to prove is SPEED. Which quotation contains a measurement of time?
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Read this extract from a story. 'Dara stood outside the assembly hall, waiting for his turn to sing. His hands would not stay still, and he kept reading the same line of the song sheet over and over. When Miss Rice called his name, he swallowed hard and walked slowly to the stage.'
How was Dara feeling? The word is never stated - you must work it out.
Step 1 of 5
Read this extract from a story. 'Dara stood outside the assembly hall, waiting for his turn to sing. His hands would not stay still, and he kept reading the same line of the song sheet over and over. When Miss Rice called his name, he swallowed hard and walked slowly to the stage.'
How was Dara feeling? The word is never stated - you must work it out.
Dara was feeling nervous - his shaking hands, hard swallow and slow walk all point to it, even though the word 'nervous' never appears.
The key insight: Writers SHOW feelings through actions instead of naming them - your job is to read the clues like a detective!
Watch out: Saying 'the text does not tell us how he feels'. The text does tell you - just not in one word. Shaking hands, swallowing hard and walking slowly are the writer's way of showing nervousness.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in reading between the lines, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Struggling with reading between the lines? The real gap is often in one of these earlier topics.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
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