Inferring and Implying

Located in Chapter 4, under section E, on page 74 0f Critical Thinking

I found this topic both interesting and very informing. A lot of times, people confuse inferring and implying as synonyms, including myself. As I learned, inferring is used in the context when someone decides that an unstated claim is in fact the conclusion. While on the other hand, implying is when someone leaves a conclusion unsaid, and leaves the other person to come up with the conclusion based on what they already know.

When reading about this topic, A good example of inferring popped in to my mind... Back when I lived at home, my mom would make me do chores every Wednesday and Sunday. Being the rebel that I am, I would always try and put off from doing them in hopes that my mom would forget. However, every time I tried, she would always tell me, "Son, do your chores." Even though she did not tell me what chores to do, I knew exactly what she meant. So in this case, my mom would imply that I had to do my already assigned chores. And I would infer what she meant.