An inference question asks you to finish the text's reasoning using only the clues it gives. Read the words before the blank to see what kind of ending is needed, then put each clue in a few words. If the text turns with a contrast, ask what changes and how the person's next move follows from it. Predict the smallest conclusion that fits both sides of the contrast. Wrong choices can use familiar words while adding claims the clues can't support.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with Ortiz's explanation of what happens when airflow is disrupted. Put the benefit of lip trills in a few words.
- Hint 2
At However, look for what the exercise leaves out. How does that limit connect to singing a passage with words?
- Hint 3
Use both Ortiz's praise and her warning to explain why students alternate between trills and words.
Step-by-step
Connect the benefit and limit
Step 1Find what trills help singers do
Ortiz says trills can help singers notice unnecessary tension, and the ending suggesting that asks us for a conclusion about her teaching. How does the exercise help? The passage says the trill becomes uneven when airflow is disrupted, so an uneven trill gives singers a sign that something needs attention. Trills help singers spot disrupted airflow, which explains why she uses them but not yet why she switches between trills and words.
- Step 2
Read the limit
Ortiz adds a limit to that benefit: the exercise does not reproduce the changing vowels and consonants of actual lyrics. What part of singing is missing from a trill? Students can work on airflow without producing the changing speech sounds they'll need in the song. A steady trill isn't the same task as singing the lyrics, so its smoothness alone doesn't tell Ortiz how a student handles those sounds.
- Step 3
Explain why she switches
Why does Ortiz have students alternate frequently between trills and words? Each return to words brings back the vowel and consonant changes, letting her see how the airflow work holds up in actual singing. Predict the smallest conclusion: the exercise helps, but its results need checking in the song. The choice describing trills as a temporary aid whose effects need to be checked while students sing lyrics fits why she switches. Choice D.