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. But usually you would correctly understand me to be saying that I didn’t. After all, if I had gotten my work done on time, I would instead just say, “I got my work done on time.” And this example is typical of how conversation works.
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.
A
Understanding what people say often requires more than just understanding the meanings of the words they use.
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 for English words to function in communication in the way that “tried” does.
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 use a word to mean often requires detecting their nonverbal cues.
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 more information in conversation than they intend to 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 be expected to have the knowledge typically required for successful communication.
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.
Hiro: I have no doubt that people lie on surveys of this type. The question is whether some people lie more than others. While the raw numbers surely underestimate what I’m trying to measure, the relative rates those numbers represent are probably close to being accurate.
A
the survey results are misleading regardless of how they are interpreted
B
people tend to lie on certain kinds of surveys
C
a different type of measure than a survey would produce results that are less misleading
D
the raw numbers collected are serious underestimates
E
the number of people surveyed was adequate for the survey’s purpose