Assignment: READING: IMPLY AND INFER

Study Skills 101
2022-07-25T04:14:48Z

Due: Aug 1, 2022 by 11:59pm

Lecture Notes: Imply and Infer

Imply and Infer

If you have ever been told that you need to "read between the lines," you have been asked to think about what the author implies and then infer the meaning correctly. If we take the phrase literally, we are asking for you to look at what is between two lines of text, and, of course, there is nothing between two lines of text; there is only blank space, but the phrase does make sense once you learn about implying and inferring.

If you ever guessed someone's job based on what they were wearing, you have made an inference. If you ever looked at a magazine advertisement and understood that the message was, "if you buy this, you will look like this model," you have made an inference. Our clothes imply something about us (accurate and inaccurate). The glossy ad with a good-looking model suggests that buying the product will also make us beautiful.

Definitions and Examples

To imply means to hint at or suggest. It is what the writer (speaker, painter, sculptor) does. It is a verb.

To infer means to understand what is implied. It is what the reader (listener or viewer) does. It is a verb. When you infer, you are looking for clues as to what the real meaning is, clues such as context, tone, or sarcasm.

Consider:

Pat says, "I see that you are all going out to each lunch today. Well, I am hungry and want to go, but I am short on cash. I sure wish I could go and didn't have to stay here all alone, hungry and alone."
Pat implies that he wants his workmates to pay for his lunch.
Pat's workmates infer that Pat is asking them to pay for his lunch.

Here is another. Notice the change of meaning as the context changes:

Maria says she is happy that the state spent billions of dollars on freeway construction because it significantly decreased the traffic problem.
This is straightforward, and no inferencing is needed, but if the context changes, Maria implies something different:

As Maria sits stuck in horrible traffic on the 405 freeway, which makes her late for work, she says that she is happy to see that the state spent billions of dollars on freeway construction because it significantly decreased the traffic problem.
As the readers, we infer that Maria believes the costly construction did not improve the traffic. We might even infer that she is upset about the wasted money. Maria's real meaning (what she is implying) is the exact opposite of the literal meaning of the words. If we don't read between the lines to infer the real meaning, we are entirely wrong about what Maria is saying.

Poem: "Dreams" by Langston Hughes

"Dreams" by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Poem: "the sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks

"The sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
They took my lover's tallness off to war,
Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess
What I can use an empty heart cup for.
He won't be coming back here anymore.
Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew
When he went walking grandly out that door
That my sweet love would have to be untrue.
Would have to be untrue. Would have to court
Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange
Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)
Can make a hard man hesitate—and change.
And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes."
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?

From "Appendix to The Anniad: leaves from a loose-leaf war diary" in Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks, published by Harper. © 1949 by Gwendolyn Brooks. All rights reserved.

Poem: "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

From And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.

Poem: "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas

"Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp.

After reading the poems, please complete

You May Access The Discussion Here: The Poetry Discussion II

You May Access The Associated Rubric Here

References

Academy of American Poets. (2019). Dreams by Langston Hughes - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/dreams

Angelou, M. (2019). Still I Rise by Maya Angelou - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/still-i-rise

Gorgie, J., & Hutson, K. (2022, July 20). College Level Reading Support: Readings to Engage Learners. OER Commons. https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89536/overview

Poets, A. of A. (1949). the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/sonnet-ballad

Thomas, D. (2019). Do not go gentle into that good night. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

Lecture Notes: Imply and Infer

Imply and Infer

If you have ever been told that you need to "read between the lines," you have been asked to think about what the author implies and then infer the meaning correctly. If we take the phrase literally, we are asking for you to look at what is between two lines of text, and, of course, there is nothing between two lines of text; there is only blank space, but the phrase does make sense once you learn about implying and inferring.

If you ever guessed someone's job based on what they were wearing, you have made an inference. If you ever looked at a magazine advertisement and understood that the message was, "if you buy this, you will look like this model," you have made an inference. Our clothes imply something about us (accurate and inaccurate). The glossy ad with a good-looking model suggests that buying the product will also make us beautiful.

Definitions and Examples

To imply means to hint at or suggest. It is what the writer (speaker, painter, sculptor) does. It is a verb.

To infer means to understand what is implied. It is what the reader (listener or viewer) does. It is a verb. When you infer, you are looking for clues as to what the real meaning is, clues such as context, tone, or sarcasm.

Consider:

Pat says, "I see that you are all going out to each lunch today. Well, I am hungry and want to go, but I am short on cash. I sure wish I could go and didn't have to stay here all alone, hungry and alone."
Pat implies that he wants his workmates to pay for his lunch.
Pat's workmates infer that Pat is asking them to pay for his lunch.

Here is another. Notice the change of meaning as the context changes:

Maria says she is happy that the state spent billions of dollars on freeway construction because it significantly decreased the traffic problem.
This is straightforward, and no inferencing is needed, but if the context changes, Maria implies something different:

As Maria sits stuck in horrible traffic on the 405 freeway, which makes her late for work, she says that she is happy to see that the state spent billions of dollars on freeway construction because it significantly decreased the traffic problem.
As the readers, we infer that Maria believes the costly construction did not improve the traffic. We might even infer that she is upset about the wasted money. Maria's real meaning (what she is implying) is the exact opposite of the literal meaning of the words. If we don't read between the lines to infer the real meaning, we are entirely wrong about what Maria is saying.

Poem: "Dreams" by Langston Hughes

"Dreams" by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Poem: "the sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks

"The sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
They took my lover's tallness off to war,
Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess
What I can use an empty heart cup for.
He won't be coming back here anymore.
Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew
When he went walking grandly out that door
That my sweet love would have to be untrue.
Would have to be untrue. Would have to court
Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange
Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)
Can make a hard man hesitate—and change.
And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes."
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?

From "Appendix to The Anniad: leaves from a loose-leaf war diary" in Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks, published by Harper. © 1949 by Gwendolyn Brooks. All rights reserved.

Poem: "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

From And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.

Poem: "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas

"Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp.

After reading the poems, please complete

You May Access The Discussion Here: The Poetry Discussion II

You May Access The Associated Rubric Here

References

Academy of American Poets. (2019). Dreams by Langston Hughes - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/dreams

Angelou, M. (2019). Still I Rise by Maya Angelou - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/still-i-rise

Gorgie, J., & Hutson, K. (2022, July 20). College Level Reading Support: Readings to Engage Learners. OER Commons. https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89536/overview

Poets, A. of A. (1949). the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/sonnet-ballad

Thomas, D. (2019). Do not go gentle into that good night. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night