What is an inference?

An inference is when you use the information you have to form an idea or conclusion. In other words, you have some facts and details and you use those to understand something the speaker doesn't choose to say directly.

Infer

To understand an idea that is not directly stated using evidence

Imply

To suggest or give an idea without directly stating it

Speakers can imply meaning by using words with positive or negative connotations. A connotation is a feeling or meaning that goes with the actual definition. For example, interested is positive, but nosy would be negative. The basic meaning of the two words is the same, but the speaker chooses one or the other to imply extra meaning.

Speakers also use intonation, pausing, and stress to express meaning indirectly. A great example of this is the use of sarcasm. The meaning becomes the opposite of the actual words when the speaker says them differently.

In more formal speaking, speakers often use examples or stories to illustrate ideas. Instead of telling you directly what to do, the speaker implies through the story what is best to do. 

Questions:

1. Why do people choose to speak indirectly?
2. What other examples of implied main ideas can you think of?

Visual art is often full of examples of inferences. Because the artist does not stand next to the painting explaining all of the details and reasons for artistic decisions, the viewer has to make inferences about the meaning of the piece. Watch this video of a curator explaining to children the inferences they can make about the paintings of Emmanuel Leutze (Washington Crossing the Delaware) and Jacob Lawrence (Struggle Series - No. 10: Washington Crossing the Delaware).

Implied Main Idea

As we discuss in the lesson Listening Comprehension: Main Ideas, most speakers will explicitly state their main idea because they don't want the listener to leave the conversation without understanding the most important idea. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, a Roman rhetorician, wrote that "We should not speak so that it is possible for the audience to understand us, but so that it is impossible for them to misunderstand us" (Book VIII, Chapter II, p. 24). This is exactly the idea behind the organization and content of most speaking situations in English.

However, there are times that a speaker will imply a main idea. This is especially common and noticeable in fables, parables, and other illustrative stories. A speaker may begin with a story with a heavily implied principle that the listener should understand even though the speaker does not directly state it. That being said, many speakers will include a story example with an implied main idea but then summarize and explicitly state the main idea just to be extra clear.

Implied Purpose

As we discuss in the lesson Listening Comprehension: Identify Speaker's Purpose, a speaker can have more than one purpose. A commercial for the latest smartphone, for example, will have a superficial purpose of explaining the features of the new device. However, the actual purpose of the commercial is to convince the listener to buy the product. Although the commercial may never directly say "Buy this phone today!" there is a clear purpose to the genre (or type) of speaking task. Regardless of what the speakers actually say in the commercial, the intention is always to persuade. This is an example of an implied purpose that people are very familiar with to the point that it feels so obvious that we wouldn't think of it as implied. 

While the example of a commercial provides an easily identifiable purpose, it is important to recognize that not all implied purposes will be as easily noticed. This is where the strategy of Listening Comprehension: Identify Speaker's Point of View becomes a necessary tool. Most implied purposes have to do with what the speaker wants the listener to do with the information. Is the listener meant to change his or her opinion on the topic? Should the listener be more aware and concerned about the topic? Persuasion isn't always about convincing someone to buy a product, but we do have the phrase buy into (an idea) which means that you begin to do or believe something because of the influence of others. 

This might sound like a negative thing, but speaking from your perspective (and bias) is natural and nearly unavoidable. So rather than feeling suspicious of everyone's intentions, just be aware of signals of this implied purpose of persuasion. It is ok to be critical of the information you receive. If you know the bias of the speaker, you are able to consciously make decisions about what you think about the topic instead of just accepting everything you are presented with.