This paper shows how reasoning from best explanation combines with linguistic and factual presumptions during the process of retrieving a speaker s intention. It is shown how differences between presumptions need to be used to pick the best explanation of a pragmatic manifestation of a dialogical intention. It is shown why we cannot simply jump to an interpretative conclusion based on what we presume to be the most common purpose of a speech act, and why, in cases of indirect speech acts, we need to depend on an abductive process of interpretation. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.