In the scenario we heard that when Bill was given the flannel to wash his face he was already distracted and not engaged with the task. Sue then gave him the flannel but assumed he knew what to do with it.

The type of instruction that Sue gave is called an indirect instruction. This is defined as an instruction that causes the recipient to guess how they should respond.

When she said 'Here's the flannel', Bill had to guess what she wanted him to do, even though to us it may seem obvious.