Context is ‘everything that the participants in a conversation know and understand, over and above that which is explicit in what they say, that contributes to how they make sense of what is said’ (p63). Continuity is ‘the development of such contexts through time’.

The continuity of common knowledge does not develop unproblematically. Explicit back references are made when commonlaity is in doubt. People who are engaged in working out common understandings tend to resort to direct talk about mental processes and the conversation when there appear to be disagreement, mismatches or incongrutities in understanding.