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Grammar Mishaps: Imply vs. Infer
Imply: A Definition
- To involve by logical necessity; entail: Life implies growth and death.
- To express or indicate indirectly: His tone implied anger.
- Obsolete To entangle.
implied, implying, implies
Infer: A Definition
- To conclude from evidence or premises.
- To reason from circumstance; surmise: We can infer that his reason for publishing the article was less than honorable.
- To lead to as a consequence or conclusion:
- To hint; imply
inferable, inferably, inferrer
What is the difference....exactly?
- TO IMPLY IS FOR THE GIVER OF INFORMATION TO SUGGEST INDIRECTLY
- TO INFER IS FOR THE RECEIVER OF INFORMATION TO MAKE A GUESS USING SPECIFIC EVIDENCE
- The teacher implied that the test would include chapters two and three when she winked at her students while reviewing the contents of those specific chapters.
- The students inferred that the test would include chapters two and three because they had reviewed those chapters more than the others.
- When I gave you a watch for Christmas, I was implying for you to be more punctual.
- She inferred that the watch was a signal to be more punctual.