MAKING SENSE OF WORDS
C-A-N B-E E-A-S-Y
FOR LEARNERS & TEACHERS
A STUDY OF LANGUAGE FOR IMPACT
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE IMAGES?
WHAT IS IRONY?
Irony is a literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. It's the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Irony can be defined in three different ways:
Situational Verbal Dramatic
This is situational irony
When you expect A but you get B.
When you have an expectation of something/someone, but the expectations are not met.
Example of situational irony -
The news stories told of how Officer Jackson died in a shootout the other day. All the bullets had missed him, but he had suffered a heart attack from the stress and the bulletproof vest he wore kept CPR from being administered correctly.
This is verbal irony
When the speaker says the opposite of what he means.
The difference between Verbal Irony and Sarcasm:
Verbal Irony + Mocking (attitude) = Sarcasm
Example of verbal irony -
“What a great weather. (when it is raining cats and dogs)”
This is dramatic irony
You know something that the characters don’t.
*You’re in on a secret*
Example of dramatic irony -
In Romeo and Juliet, we (as the reader) know that Juliet didn’t actually die, but Romeo doesn’t know that. Because he thinks that she died, he decided to commit suicide to be with her.