Answer to Question #142928 in English for Anneliese

Question

Consider the following dialogue between two people at a party:

John: Will you go to the party with me?
Mary: I am in a relationship.

State what is the implicature in Mary's statement and prove that it is an implicature by showing that it's cancellable.

Answer 1

The implicature in Mary’s statement is her relationship status which implies that she has someone and would not go to a party with John. The statement is an implicature since it communicates to john that Mary is not interested in going to the party since she is in a relationship with someone else.