Much of what we understand whether when listening or reading we understand indirectly, by inference. All communication is based on shared knowledge. Writers rely on their readers to recall information and ideas and to draw on that knowledge to infer unstated meanings. Reading is an act of inquiry, a search for meaning. Each reader is the author, in the sense of creator, of his or her own understanding of a text.
Readers draw on prior knowledge and past experience to infer the appropriate meaning.
How we discuss a text is directly related to how we read that text. The reader's eye may scan the page, but the reader's mind ranges up, down, and sideways, piecing together evidence to make sense of the presentation as a whole. Meaning is contained not so much in individual words as in collections of words conveying broader or more specific ideas. Readers read punctuation as well as words. Punctuation reflects an author's analysis of a sentence.