What is the main idea of the passage?

A public sign gains meaning through a learnable shared practice, not only through its maker's private intention. (The blue circle remains private until others can learn the connection between the mark and an intended idea or action.)

Why is the blue circle only a circle to a stranger at first?

The stranger has not learned the rule connecting the mark with the meeting plan. (Niko's private decision supplies no public route to the meaning; the stranger needs explanation, repeated use, or context.)

What does “infer” mean in the second paragraph?

Work out a meaning from clues (The sign's location is offered as evidence from which another person might work out what it means.)

How might people learn what the mark means?

Through explanation, repeated use, or its location (The second paragraph lists explanation, repeated use, and inference from place as three routes to shared meaning.)

Where a Sign's Meaning Lives: Level 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

Imagine that Niko paints a blue circle on a gate and decides it means meet here at noon. Has he created a sign? For himself, perhaps. The mark can remind him of his plan. To a stranger, however, it is only a blue circle.

A public sign needs more than a maker's private intention. Other people must have a way to learn what the mark asks them to notice or do. They might receive an explanation, see the sign used repeatedly, or infer its meaning from its place. Once the rule is shared, the simple circle can coordinate people who never meet its painter.

This does not mean a shape has no qualities of its own. A bright circle may be easy to see, while a tiny gray mark may be missed. Visibility helps a sign succeed, but visibility is not meaning. Meaning lives in a practice that connects the mark with an idea or action. The sign works when that connection can travel from one mind to another.

Comprehension questions