To: The Philosopher who wrote (3207 ) 7/22/1999 3:44:00 PM From: jbe Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Christopher, re: imply/infer. At first, I could not understand why you were so up-in-arms in your latest post:(I don't care what modern usage says, I will defend until I die the fundamental difference between imply and infer and will NEVER agree that they may be used interchangeably.) asking you to agree. So I began checking it out.Guide to Grammar and Style :A speaker implies something by hinting at it; a listener infers something from what he or she hears. Don't use them interchangeably. andromeda.rutgers.edu Common Errors in English :These two words, which originally had quite distinct meanings, have become so blended together that most people no longer distinguish between them. If you want to avoid irritating the rest of us, use "imply" when something is being suggested without being explicitly stated and "infer" when someone is trying to arrive at a conclusion based on evidence. "Imply" is more assertive, active: I imply that you need to revise your paper; and, based on my hints, you infer that I didn't think highly of your first draft. wsu.edu The misuse of infer for imply is sadly common -- so common that some dictionaries give imply as one of the definitions of infer without comment.... What dictionaries? older editions of Webster's come close to doing the reverse, that is, to giving "infer" as one of the definitions of "imply," as in the following: "....to involve or indicate by inference, association, or necessary consequence rather than by direct statement" (Webster's Seventh New Collegiate, 1963). At the same time, Webster's New World Dictionary, published in 1972, does not confuse the two. Infer and imply , in their most frequently used senses, are carefully distinguished in modern usage. To imply is to state indirectly, hint, or intimate: The report implies that we were to blame. To infer is to draw a conclusion or make a deduction based on facts or indications: Reading the report made him infer that we were to blame. In these senses, the words are not interchangeable. Although infer sometimes appears in examples such as the first, it is not acceptable there, according to 92% of the Usage Panel.If a reporter is covering a story of a cross burning, do they start with a completely open mind, or do they start with the opinion that cross burning is generally a bad thing? Message 10599589
