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1975Rhetoric

Grice's conversational maxims

The point, in one line

What you chose to leave out is heard just as clearly as what you said.

How it works

'Will you come?' — 'I have a lecture.' Nobody said the word no and everybody heard it: the hearer runs on four expectations, and when you plainly break one, they work out the meaning themselves.

Quantityminutes reading 'it was decided to continue the discussion' mean nothing later
Qualitydo not say what you believe false or what you have no evidence for
Relationstay on the point — going off it reads as avoidance
Manneran invitation with no hour, price or content forces the student to guess
Every announcement must carry what, when, where, what it costs and what is being asked of you — that is the whole repair.
The same thing, in your club
  1. The situation

    The minutes say 'it was decided to continue the discussion', and a month later nobody knows what was decided.

  2. What the model says

    This breaks quantity: less was said than needed, so the reader has to guess — and guessing, they conclude that nothing was decided.

  3. What you do

    In this meeting's minutes write, against every item, what was decided, who does it and by when.

What it claims

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Who created it

HPG1975
An illustrated emblem, not a portrait.
H. Paul Grice (1913–1988)
1975

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Why this is your problem

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Why gslk uses it

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Where it runs in the product

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Source

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Rights and licence
In copyright

The primary source is in copyright. This page retells it in our own words and cites it rather than reproducing it.

What this connects to

These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:

Grounds these competency domains

Of the ten gslk competency domains, this work grounds:

The student version
Grice's conversational maxims

The same work written for a member: what to do with it in the club.

Check it yourself

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