Listening skill: Listening “between

Listening skill: Listening “between the lines”People do not always say what they mean directly. Very often, we have to listen “between the lines.” The English language offers many ways for people to imply, rather than directly state, their meaning. To find out what a speaker really means, we can rely on such things as the context, the meaning of an idiom, and the intonation used. For example, if someone says “I have an essay to write” in answer to an invitation to go somewhere, we can infer from the context that he cannot accept the invitation. And if someone says “Andrew passed with flying colors” in reply to an inquiry about how Andrew did on a test, we can understand from the meaning of the idiom “to pass with flying colors” that Andrew did very well on the test. Often, intonation also helps to reveal the real meaning of a message. For example, “He is very clever” said with an ironic tone means just the opposite.