2020-10-16 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – Imply - infer

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2020-10-16 

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – Imply - infer

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง Imply = ‘im-PLAHY’

ออกเสียง infer = ‘in-FUR’

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree

imply

signify or mean; to suggest:

Her words imply a lack of caring.

Not to be confused with:

infer – deduce, reason, guess; draw a conclusion:

They inferred her dislike from her cold reply.

Farlex Trivia Dictionary.
imply

• imply, infer - A speaker or writer implies, a hearer or reader infers; implications are incorporated in statements, while inferences are deduced from statements. Imply means "suggest indirectly that something is true," while infer means "conclude or deduce something is true"; furthermore, to imply is to suggest or throw out a suggestion, while to infer is to include or take in a suggestion.
• intent, intention - Intent implies a sustained unbroken commitment or purpose, while intention implies an intermittent resolution or an initial aim or plan.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

in•fer′a•ble, in•fer′ri•ble, adj.

in•fer′a•bly, adv.

in•fer′rer, n.

usage: Many usage guides condemn infer when used to mean “to hint or suggest,”

as in The next speaker rejected the proposal, inferring that it was made solely to embarrass the government,

holding the position that the proper word for this meaning is imply,

and that to use infer for it is to lose a valuable distinction.

Many speakers and writers observe this claimed distinction scrupulously.

Nevertheless, from its earliest appearance in English infer has had the sense given in definition 3 above, a meaning that overlapswith the second definition of imply when the subject is a condition, circumstance, or the like that leads inevitably to a certain conclusion or point.

Collins COBUILD English Usage

Imply – infer

1. 'imply'

If you imply that something is the case,

you suggest that it is the case without actually saying so.

Somehow he implied that he was the one who had done all the work.

Her tone implied that her time and her patience were limited.

2. 'infer'

If you infer that something is the case,

you decide that it is the case on the basis of the information that you have.

I inferred from what she said that you have not been well.

It is only from doing experiments that cause-and-effect relationships can be inferred.

COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY

USAGE FOR INFER

The use of infer to mean imply is becoming more and more common in both speech and writing. There is nevertheless a useful distinction between the two which many people would be in favour of maintaining.

To infer means `to deduce', and is used in the construction to infer something from something : I inferred from what she said that she had not been well .

To imply (sense 1) means `to suggest, to insinuate' and is normally followed by a clause: are you implying that I was responsible for the mistake?

Dictionary.com

USAGE NOTE FOR INFER

Infer has been used to mean “to hint or suggest” since the 16th century by speakers and writers of unquestioned ability and eminence: The next speaker criticized the proposal, inferring that it was made solely to embarrass the government.

Despite its long history, many usage guides condemn the use, maintaining that the proper word for the intended sense is imply and that to use infer is to lose a valuable distinction between the two words.
Although the claimed distinction has probably existed chiefly in the pronouncements of usage guides, and although the use of infer to mean “to suggest” usually produces no ambiguity, the distinction too has a long history and is widely observed by many speakers and writers.

Dictionary.com

HISTORICAL USAGE OF INFER

The English verb infer has always been used in logic to mean “to conclude by reasoning or from evidence.” It comes fromthe Latin verb inferre “to carry in, enter, introduce, inflict,” composed of the prefix in- “in, into” and ferre “to carry, bear.” Inferre meaning “to conclude, draw an inference, infer” is very rare in Latin, occurring only in the writings of Cicero (106–43 b.c.), Roman statesman and man of letters, and the great, commonsensical Roman rhetorician Quintilian (who lived about a.d. 35–95).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Choose the Right Synonym for infer

INFER, DEDUCE, CONCLUDE, JUDGE, GATHER

mean to arrive at a mental conclusion.

INFER implies arriving at a conclusion by reasoning from evidence; if the evidence is slight, the term comes close to surmise. from that remark, I inferred that they knew each other

DEDUCE often adds to INFER the special implication of drawing a particular inference from a generalization. denied we could deduce anything important from human mortality

CONCLUDE implies arriving at a necessary inference at the end of a chain of reasoning. concluded that only the accused could be guilty

JUDGE stresses a weighing of the evidence on which a conclusion is based. judge people by their actions

GATHER suggests an intuitive forming of a conclusion from implications.

gathered their desire to be alone without a word

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Infer vs. Imply: Usage Guide

Sir Thomas More is the first writer known to have used both infer and imply in their approved senses in 1528 (with infer meaning "to deduce from facts" and imply meaning "to hint at"). He is also the first to have used infer in a sense close in meaning to imply (1533). Both of these uses of infer coexisted without comment until some time around the end of World War I. Since then, the "indicate" and "hint or suggest" meanings of infer have been frequently condemned as an undesirable blurring of a useful distinction. The actual blurring has been done by the commentators. The "indicate" sense of infer, descended from More's use of 1533, does not occur with a personal subject. When objections arose, they were to a use with a personal subject (which is now considered a use of the "suggest, hint" sense of infer). Since dictionaries did not recognize this use specifically, the objectors assumed that the "indicate" sense was the one they found illogical, even though it had been in respectable use for four centuries. The actual usage condemned was a spoken one never used in logical discourse. At present the condemned "suggest, hint" sense is found in print chiefly in letters to the editor and other informal prose, not in serious intellectual writing. The controversy over the "suggest, hint" sense has apparently reduced the frequency with which the "indicate" sense of infer is used.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

in·fer′a·ble adj.

in·fer′a·bly adv.

in·fer′rer n.

Usage Note: Infer is sometimes confused with imply, but the distinction careful writers make between these words is a useful one. When we say that a speaker or sentence implies something, we mean that it is conveyed or suggested without being stated outright:

When the mayor said that she would not rule out a business tax increase, she implied (not inferred) that some taxes might be raised.

Inference, on the other hand, is the activity performed by a reader or interpreter in drawing conclusions that are not explicit in what is said:

When the mayor said that she would not rule out a tax increase, we inferred that she had consulted with new financial advisers, since her old advisers favored tax reductions.

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression

Imply – infer

To imply is to suggest a meaning only hinted at, not explicitly stated.

To infer is to draw a conclusion from statements, evidence, or circumstances.

“Your remark implies that Bill was untruthful.”

“The officer inferred from the fingerprints that the killer was left-handed.”

Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary

IMPLY/INFER

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