Questões de Concurso

In the comic strip, Calvin repeatedly asks his mother for permission using the modal verb “can”, proposing increasingly unreasonable actions (e.g., setting fire to his mattress, riding his tricycle on the roof). His mother denies every request with the same formulaic response: “No, Calvin.” After a series of absurd questions, Calvin finally asks for something reasonable: a cookie. The mother again refuses with “No, Calvin,” leading Calvin to conclude, “She’s on to me.”

Imagem associada para resolução da questão

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Based on a pragmatic and discourse-analysis perspective, which statement BEST explains the mother’s response pattern and Calvin’s final inference?

(a)

The mother’s repeated refusals create a conversational implicature: by answering identically to absurd and reasonable requests, she signals that Calvin has lost credibility, causing her to pre-emptively deny even harmless requests.

(b)

The mother rejects all requests because the modal verb “can” expresses ability rather than permission, making Calvin’s questions grammatically inappropriate and therefore invalid.

(c)

Calvin’s inference shows a misunderstanding of Grice’s Maxim of Quantity, since he assumes that receiving the same answer implies that all requests have equal harm and should be treated similarly.

(d)

The exchange violates the Maxim of Relevance, since the mother’s refusal to give a cookie does not relate to Calvin’s earlier requests, making his conclusion logically inconsistent with the situation.