you have to be doing that on purpose! he implies, you infer. i cant tell if you are making a mistake or just have a weird way of saying things.
hahaha, no. I never knew that rule before Sabanfan pointed it so I'm going to have to keep an eye out for it now. What can I say... Louisiana public schools.
It's a common error and I have heard the word "infer" misused countless times by smart people and dumb people alike. Pointing out the correct usage is just one of the many good works that I do.
I think I use them properly, but it's because of habit, not really understanding why. So I looked it up. Usage Note: Infer is sometimes confused with imply, but the distinction 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 been consulting with some new financial advisers, since her old advisers were in favor of tax reductions.
