Self-study
Lecturer: If I say, "I tried to get my work done on time," the meanings of my words do not indicate that I didn't get it done on time. ███ ███████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ █ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████
Summary
The lecturer gives us an example of a statement that, in a conversation, contains meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words. The literal meaning of “I tried to get my work done on time” does not express that I didn’t get my work done on time. But if I made that statement, you’d be correct to understand me as asserting that I didn’t get my work done on time. This example is typical of other statements in a conversation.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
People say things that contain meanings beyond the literal meaning of the words.
11.
The lecturer's statements, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
a
Understanding what people ███ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ █████████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████
Strongly supported. We have an example of a statement that contains meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words. This was typical of conversations. So, understanding the meaning of some other things people say requires more than just the meaning of the literal words.
b
It is unusual ███ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███████ █████
Unsupported. The stimulus gave us an example of something that is typical (usual) in conversations. There’s no support for a claim about the function of certain words being unusual.
c
Understanding what people ███ █ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ █████ █████████ █████
Unsupported. We don’t know that understanding the meaning of the example in the stimulus requires nonverbal cues. We might get the meaning from the context in which it’s made, or from the fact the person didn’t say something else.
d
Speakers often convey ████ ███████████ ██ ████████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████
Unsupported. The example in the stimulus concerns a speaker who intends to express more than what the literal words mean. It doesn’t concern someone who expressed more than he intended.
e
Listeners cannot reasonably ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████████
Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t tell us anything about how likely people will interpret statements accurately. Maybe most people interpret statements in conversations accurately; there’s no evidence either for or against this possibility.