Students sometimes lose marks despite knowing the content because they answer the topic rather than the command. Analyse, infer, explain, evaluate and justify are not decorative exam verbs. Each asks your mind to perform a different job.
This guide complements the Top 100 Vocabulary List Secondary 3 Grade A1, where many of these thinking words already appear. Here we turn them into action.
Analyse
To analyse is to break something into relevant parts and explain relationships or significance. Identification alone is not analysis.
Analyse: useful structure
- Identify the feature or component.
- Explain what it does.
- Connect it to context.
- State why it matters.
Infer
To infer is to reach an unstated conclusion from evidence. A strong inference moves one justified step beyond what is explicitly stated.
Infer: useful structure
- Identify the clue.
- State what it literally shows.
- Draw the best-supported conclusion.
- Qualify if alternatives remain.
Explain
To explain is to make a relationship, process or reason clear. “Because” is often useful, but a genuine explanation needs a mechanism.
Explain: useful structure
- State what happens.
- State why or how.
- Describe the mechanism or sequence.
- Use an example if it clarifies the process.
Evaluate
To evaluate is to judge using relevant criteria and evidence. An evaluation should not be a personal reaction disguised as analysis.
Evaluate: useful structure
- State the criterion.
- Present supporting evidence.
- Consider limitation or counterevidence.
- Reach a proportionate judgement.
Justify
To justify is to give reasons or evidence showing why a choice, conclusion or interpretation is defensible.
Justify: useful structure
- State the decision or claim.
- Give the strongest relevant reason.
- Support it with evidence.
- Explain why alternatives are weaker if needed.
Describe is different
To describe is to state relevant features or what happened. Description provides material that later analysis may interpret, but the two should not be confused.
Compare is different
Comparison identifies meaningful similarities and differences along a stated dimension. “Both are different” is not enough.
Discuss is broader
A discussion usually explores relevant perspectives, evidence, tensions and implications before reaching a reasoned position.
Predict is different
Prediction extends evidence into the future. Strong predictions identify the pattern and qualify uncertainty.
Summarise is different
Summary compresses core information without adding unnecessary interpretation or detail.
Command-word confusion
A student asked to evaluate may spend the whole answer explaining. A student asked to infer may merely quote. A student asked to justify may repeat the choice without reasons. Knowing the command prevents these mismatches.
One prompt, five jobs
Imagine a school introduces later start times. Describe: state the change. Explain: show why it may affect sleep. Analyse: examine mechanisms and groups. Evaluate: judge effectiveness using criteria. Justify: defend whether the school should continue the policy.
Command words and certainty
Inference and evaluation often require qualified language. Do not write “proves” when the task and evidence support only “suggests”.
Command words and evidence
Every higher-order command needs evidence, though the evidence may be textual, numerical, observational or conceptual depending on the task.
The verb-first habit
Before answering any question, circle the command word and translate it into an action: “evaluate = judge by criteria”, “infer = conclude from clues”.
The answer-audit habit
After writing, ask whether every paragraph is performing the command. A knowledgeable paragraph that does a different job may still be irrelevant.
Practice routine
Take one topic and write five different questions using analyse, infer, explain, evaluate and justify. Answer each in three sentences. Compare how the reasoning changes even though the topic remains the same.
Return to the hero
Revisit the command and reasoning vocabulary in the Secondary 3 Grade A1 hero. These are not merely words to define; they are instructions for intellectual movement.
Checkpoint
- Can you translate each command into an action?
- Can you distinguish description from analysis?
- Can you infer from evidence rather than repeat it?
- Can you explain mechanisms?
- Can you evaluate using criteria?
- Can you justify a decision with evidence?
If so, exam command words stop being instructions printed above the question. They become part of how you organise thought.
Deep Command-Word Lab: Matching Cognitive Work to the Verb
Command words are small but powerful because they define the transformation the answer must perform. A student can know every fact in the passage and still underperform if the answer produces the wrong kind of thinking.
The Cognitive Transformation Map
| Command | Input | Required transformation | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infer | clues | move beyond the stated evidence | best-supported unstated conclusion |
| Explain | event or relationship | add mechanism | how/why account |
| Analyse | whole | separate parts and relationships | structured interpretation |
| Evaluate | claim/system | apply criteria and weigh evidence | proportionate judgement |
| Justify | choice/claim | provide reasons that make it defensible | supported rationale |
The Minimum-Sufficient Answer Test
Ask what the shortest answer would look like if it fully performed the command. An inference needs a conclusion plus evidence. An evaluation needs criteria plus judgement. An explanation needs a mechanism. This prevents students from writing more without doing more.
Command Switching
Take one source sentence and answer five different commands about it. The facts remain stable; the reasoning operation changes. This is one of the fastest ways to expose whether a student understands the verb or merely recognises it.
The Wrong-Job Diagnostic
- Asked to infer, but quoted: evidence was repeated without conclusion.
- Asked to explain, but described: sequence was given without mechanism.
- Asked to analyse, but listed: parts were named without relationships.
- Asked to evaluate, but reacted: judgement lacked criteria.
- Asked to justify, but asserted: the answer repeated the choice without support.
Deep Practice Set
- Write one prompt and change only the command word five times.
- Produce a three-sentence answer for each version.
- Underline the sentence that performs the core transformation.
- Diagnose one wrong-job answer and repair it.
- Use reasoning vocabulary from the Secondary 3 Grade A1 hero to make the transformation explicit.
Command-word mastery means seeing a question as an operation: what must happen to the evidence before it becomes a valid answer?