Question

c making inferences
when you combine your own experience and information from a text to draw a conclusion that is not directly stated in that text, you are making an inference. below are five statements that may or may not be inferences based on information in the article. label the statements using the following key:
c-correct inference
f-faulty inference

1. only women are victims of spontaneous human combustion.
2. dr. krogman gave up his search for the cause of the fire that killed mrs. reeser because all the logical choices proved to be unsatisfactory.
3. the smell that mrs. carpenter detected at 5 a.m. was probably not from the water pump, but from mrs. reeser.
4. the fbi and the arson experts simply did not look hard enough to find the cause of the fire.
5. although we dont know what they are, there must be many causes for spontaneous human combustion.

Explanation:

Analyze the inference rules

We must evaluate five statements about spontaneous human combustion (specifically referencing the famous case of Mrs. Mary Reeser and investigator Dr. Wilton Krogman) and label them as C (Correct Inference) or F (Faulty Inference) based on standard reading comprehension and Textual Evidence.

Evaluate Statement 1

Statement: "Only women are victims of spontaneous human combustion."
This is a sweeping generalization. Historical cases of spontaneous human combustion involve both men and women. There is no logical basis or Textual Evidence to infer that only women are victims. Thus, this is a faulty inference.

Evaluate Statement 2

Statement: "Dr. Krogman gave up his search for the cause of the fire that killed Mrs. Reeser because all the logical choices proved to be unsatisfactory."
Dr. Krogman, a physical anthropologist who investigated the Mary Reeser case, famously expressed complete bafflement because the extreme heat required to cremate a body normally destroys the surroundings, yet Mrs. Reeser's room was largely undamaged. He did not simply "give up" out of frustration; rather, the physical evidence contradicted all known logical explanations of normal fire behavior, leaving the case an unsolved mystery. This makes the statement a correct inference regarding his scientific impasse.

Evaluate Statement 3

Statement: "The smell that Mrs. Carpenter detected at 5 A.M. was probably not from the water pump, but from Mrs. Reeser."
In the Reeser case, neighbor Mrs. Carpenter smelled smoke around 5 A.M. but initially attributed it to a pump motor. Later, Mrs. Reeser was found burned to death. It is a highly logical and correct inference based on Reading Comprehension of the timeline that the smell of smoke was actually from the ongoing combustion of Mrs. Reeser.

Evaluate Statement 4

Statement: "The FBI and the arson experts simply did not look hard enough to find the cause of the fire."
This statement dismisses the extensive, professional investigation conducted by federal and local experts. Attributing their lack of a definitive explanation to "not looking hard enough" is a faulty inference that ignores the extraordinary and anomalous physical evidence of the case.

Evaluate Statement 5

Statement: "Although we don't know what they are, there must be many causes for spontaneous human combustion."
Assuming there "must be many causes" for an unproven and highly controversial phenomenon is logically weak. If the phenomenon exists, it might have a single rare underlying mechanism rather than "many causes." This is a faulty, speculative inference.

Answer:

Question 1

<blank>F</blank> 1. Only women are victims of spontaneous human combustion.

Question 2

<blank>C</blank> 2. Dr. Krogman gave up his search for the cause of the fire that killed Mrs. Reeser because all the logical choices proved to be unsatisfactory.

Question 3

<blank>C</blank> 3. The smell that Mrs. Carpenter detected at 5 A.M. was probably not from the water pump, but from Mrs. Reeser.

Question 4

<blank>F</blank> 4. The FBI and the arson experts simply did not look hard enough to find the cause of the fire.

Question 5

<blank>F</blank> 5. Although we don't know what they are, there must be many causes for spontaneous human combustion.