linguistics1-7  Exercise 2: Implicature and the Maxims
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  (a) "Are you coming to the party?"  "I have to work."

      Implicature: B is not coming (or probably cannot).
      Maxim: Relation. B's reply does not answer yes or no, but it would be
      relevant only if working prevented B from coming. A assumes B is being
      cooperative and works out the connection.

  (b) "How was the lecture?"  "Well, the room was warm."

      Implicature: the lecture was not good (probably dull).
      Maxim: Relation (and Quantity). B says something that seems beside the
      point and gives no opinion of the lecture, so the hearer concludes that
      B has nothing good to say.

  (c) "Did the students pass?"  "Some of them did."

      Implicature: not all of them passed.
      Maxim: Quantity. If all had passed, B would have been expected to say so
      ("all" is stronger than "some"). By saying only "some", B implies that
      "all" is not true.

Cancelling the implicature in (c):

  "Some of the students passed, in fact all of them did."

  This is fine and not a contradiction, because "not all" was only an
  implicature of the first part. Compare:

  "Anna killed the spider, but it didn't die."

  That is a contradiction, because "killed" ENTAILS "died" (Chapter 6).
  Implicatures can be cancelled; entailments cannot. This is the usual test
  for telling them apart.