Grice’s Maxims

  • The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as
    orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and
    ambiguity.

    As the maxims stand, there may be an overlap, as regards the length of what one
    says, between the maxims of quantity and manner; this overlap can be explained
    (partially if not entirely) by thinking of the maxim of quantity (artificial though
    this approach may be) in terms of units of information. In other words, if the
    listener needs, let us say, five units of information from the speaker, but gets
    less, or more than the expected number, then the speaker is breaking the maxim of
    quantity. However, if the speaker gives the five required units of information, but
    is either too curt or long-winded in conveying them to the listener, then the maxim
    of manner is broken. The dividing line however, may be rather thin or unclear, and
    there are times when we may say that both the maxims of quantity and quality are
    broken by the same factors.