What are you doing when you analyze a character's actions and words to learn more about him or her ?

You are making an inference about a character

Explanation:

To make an inference is to form an opinion or get to a conclusion about a situation, a person, an animal or a thing, after having perceived something about them such as a behavior, a gesture, an action, a word, etc.

So, when we are reading a story and the characteristics of a character are not directly stated (for example, the narrator does directly say "Juan is a stubborn 12-year-old boy"), we can learn more about that character or to make an inference about that character by perceiving and analyzing their actions, gestures, thoughts, dialogues or any other type of behavior that tells us more about their personality.

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