Grice's Conversational Maxims

Maxim of Relevance:

One time when my entire family went out to dinner we were having a conversation about something ( I can't remember what in particular) and the conversation had hit a lull, my grandfather randomly blurt out "so how about that basketball?" This violates the maxim of relevance because it wasn't on topic in the least bit, but it allowed a new conversation to begin. There wasn't another maxim that was violated to follow another, he just decided to begin a new conversation more relevant to himself and to keep the conversation going. The reaction was one of humor and laughter, because he is a close family member. Had this occurred with someone not as well known, the response to the broken maxim would have been quite different.

Maxim of Quality:

Generally I break the maxim of quality with my students (middle school) if they ask a question that they know the answer to or should be able to answer on their own. For example, every so often students will ask "do I put my name on this?" I usually reply "no, when have you ever put your name on a paper before?" This is stating something I know to be false to get my point across that they should always put their name on a paper unless instructed otherwise. This use of sarcasm is breaking the maxim of quality because I am not directly answering their question with truthful statements, but rather saying an untruth to achieve a general understanding.

Maxim of Quantity:

An example from my life is when we have a student which has been absent for a while and the guidance counselor or principal will just say to excuse all work for a medical absence, but not provide more information. This additional information is withheld not to be misleading, but to not disclose more information than is necessary as a request of confidentiality.

Maxim of Manner:

In a conversation about someone, when unsure of the relationship between two people I will usually say "the person who was with so-and-so" to avoid any confusion. This is breaking the maxim of manner because it could be stating in a less lengthy way but it is stated briefly to avoid confusion or to draw conclusions of what the relationship is.