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Lesson planC260 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Imply or Infer? Near-synonyms that trip up fluent speakers
Students learn to choose precisely between near-synonyms, like imply and infer, through a festival row, then write a letter to the editor.
Near synonyms · Nuance · Festival · Local news
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Learn and use 10 words and phrases in one set: Easily confused pairs
- Read for detail: Letter from Ashcombe
- Writing task: a letter to the editor
Stages · 60 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about near synonyms and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 10 minControlled practice: Ex. 1–2
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 3
- 10 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4–5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
imply / infer: who does what?
- A speaker or writer implies something: suggests it without saying it directly. She implied that the plan would fail.
- A listener or reader infers something: reaches a conclusion from the evidence. From her tone, I inferred that she was angry.
- Careful writers keep the two apart, even though infer is sometimes used informally to mean imply.
continual / continuous: breaks or no breaks?
- continual = happening again and again, with breaks, often annoyingly: continual interruptions, continual complaints.
- continuous = without any break at all: a continuous line, six hours of continuous rain.
flout / flaunt
- flout a rule, a law or an agreement = break it openly and deliberately.
- flaunt your wealth, a new car or your success = show it off so that people notice.
disinterested / uninterested; economic / economical
- disinterested = impartial, with nothing to gain: a disinterested judge. uninterested = not interested: The children looked uninterested.
- economic = connected with the economy or with making a profit: economic growth. economical = using little money, fuel or time: an economical car.
Study tips
- Learn each pair with a short 'test sentence' that only one word fits: a continuous line, continual interruptions.
- When you proofread, search your writing for these words and check each one against its test sentence.
Glossary
- Easily confused pairs10 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Choose the precise word
Complete each sentence with the correct form of one of the words in brackets. Only one of them is right.
- a
The chair never said that the plan was dead, but she clearly that it would never be funded. (imply / infer)
- b
From the empty seats at the meeting, we that most members had lost interest. (imply / infer)
- c
Rehearsals were ruined by the builders' interruptions: they started drilling every ten minutes. (continual / continuous)
- d
The sound system needs a supply of power for twelve hours, because a single cut would damage it. (continual / continuous)
- e
Several stallholders openly the ban on amplified music and played until midnight. (flout / flaunt)
- f
The sponsor's director arrived in a gold sports car and spent the evening his wealth. (flout / flaunt)
- g
The poetry prize needs a judge, someone with no friends or relatives among the entrants. (disinterested / uninterested)
- h
The town's recovery after the factory closed owed a great deal to tourism. (economic / economical)
- i
Our old festival van is surprisingly : it uses very little fuel. (economic / economical)
2
Breaks or no breaks?
Would you describe each thing as continual or continuous? Put each one in the right group.
- a
a tap that drips every few seconds
- b
the hum of a fridge all night long
- c
complaints that arrive every few days
- d
a line drawn without lifting the pen
- e
forty-eight hours of rain without a pause
- f
phone calls interrupting dinner all evening
- g
a neighbour who keeps asking to borrow things
- h
a queue of traffic with no gaps at all
3
Word families
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
The of his remark was that we had wasted the town's money.
IMPLY - b
It's a reasonable from the figures that ticket sales have fallen.
INFER - c
There has been no in the festival's leadership: it has had five chairs in six years.
CONTINUE - d
We need to make some , starting with fewer printed programmes.
ECONOMY - e
The grant was spent , and not a penny was wasted.
ECONOMY - f
The rain fell for two days, without a single break.
CONTINUE
4
Say it another way
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given and between two and six words.
- a
Her tone suggested that she was unhappy with the decision.
IMPLIED
Her tone unhappy with the decision.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- b
His silence led us to conclude that he agreed.
INFERRED
From his silence, we agreed.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- c
The organisers ignored the safety rules quite openly.
FLOUTED
The organisers quite openly.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- d
She loves showing off her expensive new jewellery.
FLAUNTING
She loves jewellery.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- e
Neither result would benefit the judge in any way.
DISINTERESTED
The judge was party.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- f
Hardly anyone paid attention to the lecture on medieval drainage.
UNINTERESTED
Most of the audience the lecture on medieval drainage.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
5
Find and correct the mistake
In careful usage, each sentence has one wrong word. Write the correction: the correct word or the whole sentence.
- a
Are you inferring that I took the money from the cash box?
- b
The new heating system is far more economic to run than the old boiler.
- c
Drivers who flaunt the speed limit outside the school will be fined.
- d
The audience seemed disinterested and started chatting during the second act.
- e
The generator has been running continually for six hours without a single stop.
- f
The report infers that the festival will lose money next year, though it never says so directly.
6
Read: Letter from Ashcombe
Read the text. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
Anyone who attended last Thursday's meeting of the Ashcombe Arts Festival committee could be forgiven for inferring that the festival is in serious trouble. The chair, Marion Osei, never actually said that this year's event would be the last, but she implied as much when she told members that 'difficult choices' lay ahead. The problems are not new. For three summers the festival has faced continual complaints from residents of Mill Lane, who object to the noise, the parking and, above all, the late finishes. Last year several bands flouted the agreement to stop playing at eleven, and the council has warned that a repeat could cost the festival its licence. Money is the other headache. The festival's main sponsor, a property developer, withdrew its support in March, reportedly after its managing director was photographed flaunting a festival VIP pass at a rival event in another town. Since then the committee has been looking for more economical ways to run the weekend: volunteers instead of paid stewards, a smaller main stage and a printed programme cut from forty pages to twelve. Not everyone is convinced. The treasurer, Dev Raman, argues that the festival brings real economic benefits to the town's cafés and guesthouses, and that cutting it back too far would be a false economy. He has proposed that a disinterested outsider, someone with no ties to the committee, the sponsors or the residents, should review the accounts and recommend a way forward. What struck me most, however, was the public gallery. A handful of Mill Lane residents sat through every minute, taking notes. The rest of the town, it seems, is simply uninterested: of Ashcombe's six thousand residents, only eleven turned up.
- a
Marion Osei stated clearly that this year's festival would be the last.
- b
Residents of Mill Lane have complained about the festival on many occasions.
- c
Some bands played after the agreed finishing time last year.
- d
The council has already taken away the festival's licence.
- e
The sponsor's managing director showed off a festival pass at another event.
- f
Volunteers will write the shorter printed programme.
- g
Dev Raman believes that the festival helps local businesses.
- h
Dev Raman wants a member of the committee to review the accounts.
- i
The residents in the public gallery spoke during the meeting.
7
Write: a letter to the editor
Write a letter to a local newspaper.
Write a letter to the editor of the Ashcombe Gazette (220–260 words) giving your view on the future of the festival. Should it be cut back, saved as it is, or stopped? Respond to at least two points from the article. Use at least six words from the box, each in its precise meaning. Word box: imply · infer · continual · continuous · flout · flaunt · disinterested · uninterested · economic · economical Example: The article implies that residents are uninterested, but I infer from the packed cafés that the opposite is true.
Suggested minimum: 220 words
0 words · aim for at least 220
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 10 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in one set.
Easily confused pairs
- imply
- to suggest something without saying it directly (the speaker implies)
- infer
- to reach a conclusion from the information you have (the listener infers)
- continual
- happening again and again, often in an annoying way
- continuous
- without any break or pause
- flout
- to break a rule or law openly and deliberately
- flaunt
- to show something off so that people notice it
- disinterested
- not having anything to gain, so able to judge fairly
- uninterested
- not interested in someone or something
- economic
- connected with the economy
- economical
- using little money, fuel or time
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