Three questions guide the understanding of kināyah: What does the expression literally say? Which concomitant is intended? and Can the literal sense remain intended? Without these distinctions, familiar examples would be reduced to memorized idioms.
The subsequent division of kināyah examines whether the desired meaning is a quality, a specified referent, or an attribution. That classification belongs to the next section. The present lesson has established the definition and its contrast with majāz.
The essential test is not mere indirectness but inference through a concomitant together with the non-exclusion of the literal sense.