While at Thanksgiving dinner if person A were to bring up a controversial topic, person B might violate Grice’s maxim of quantity to indirectly get the message across to person A that his or her contribution is not welcome. Person B might simply say something like “Anywho…” and go on to change the subject entirely. This would violate Grice’s maxim of quantity because by leaving out the detailed information that would explain that person A’s contribution is not welcome, and why it’s not welcome (such as it’s either inappropriate or your views are different,)person B is saying “anywho…” to get the message across that he/she is intentionally changing the topic of conversation.


