“Sometimes it’s very hard to tell the difference”.
Well then, that’s your difficulty, not mine.
Meanwhile, please don’t attempt to “read” my intentions.
In the first year of my PhD program, the org/dev prof had us sit in on a board or some such meeting of the institution.
We were to take notes on sequence, positions, collaborations, functions, effects etc.
That course was quite instructive and enlightening.
Inferences are hazardous. However, one can speak fairly strictly about function, sequence, effects, results without ever getting inside the ‘black box.’