Different types of irony

1. Irony

2. Irony
• Awareness of a discrepancy between
appearance and reality that takes three
common forms
• Verbal irony
• Situational irony
• Dramatic irony

3. Verbal irony
• What a person says is contrary to what they
mean.
• This is different from a lie, where what a
person says is contrary to what they know to be
true, but they do not want the contradiction to
be perceived.
• Jake “I’m a musician” = lie
• Narrator says “Jake exaggerated greatly” =
verbal irony

4. Types of verbal irony
• A tone that conflicts with the content of what is said (such
as describing serious events lightly, or pretending to be
angry when someone has done something nice for you)
• Understatement -- “I find that a little hard to believe”
“Jake exaggerated greatly” “This is a sad story . . . It
rained in Sarajevo and we had expected fine weather.”
• Humorous exaggeration-- “I’m addicted to Dr Pepper”
• Gently mocking or skeptical tone “Good morning,
Sleeping Beauty” to someone who gets up late. “My hero”
to someone who does a minor service.

5. Types of verbal irony
• Sarcasm—saying the opposite of what you
intend with the intent to wound or shame
someone.
• “Thanks a lot” to imply that someone has not
done what they should to help you.
• Calling a man a “titan of industry” after he
loses all his money in a shaky business deal

6. Types of verbal irony
• Satire-using humor, exaggeration and distortion
to expose the ridiculous of an argument or practice
often while pretending to advocate it.
• The benefits [of giving all students A’s] are obvious.
Students will be assured of high grade point averages
and an absence of obstacles on their march toward
graduation. Professors will be relieved of useless
burdens and have more time to pursue their real
interests. Education will no longer consume vast
quantities of paper for books, compositions and
examinations. Roberta Borkat “A Liberating
Curriculum”

7. Types of verbal irony
• Parody: “Taking a cue from the Oakland school district,
Fortune 500 companies should request federal funds to
teach workers Standard English. How will our employees
compete in the global village if they can’t speak the same
proper English used in Japan and Taiwan? While many
office workers describe their dialect as lingo they use only
among their upper-middle class peers and in office parks,
while reverting back to normal English in public, some
linguists consider office jargon to be a language separate
from English.” Ted Rall “Office Jargon: Language or
Dialect?”

8. Situational Irony
• When something happens that is contrary to what
is expected or intended.
• A child gets sick and misses school on the day she is
supposed to receive a perfect attendance award.
• A policeman is robbed.
• Oedipus fulfills the curse predicted by the oracle by
trying to avoid it.
• The trip that was supposed to help Piper make up his
mind to divorce his wife for his girlfriend, actually led
to his girlfriend dumping him

9. Dramatic Irony
• The reader/audience is aware of something
that characters in the literary work don’t
recognize.
• Miss Brill’s reflections on the old people on the
benches also describe the way the young people
see her.
• Jake thinks he is cool and free but the reader
can see that he is on a dead end life path.

10. Dramatic Irony
• The reader/audience is aware of something
that characters in the literary work don’t
recognize.
• Miss Brill’s reflections on the old people on the
benches also describe the way the young people
see her.
• Jake thinks he is cool and free but the reader
can see that he is on a dead end life path.