Verbal Irony where what is said or written is the opposite of what is meant Example: Mother comes into the TV room and discovers her 11-year-old watching South Park instead of doing his homework, as he was told to a dozen minutes ago. Pointing to the screen she says, "Don't let me tempt you from your duties, kiddo, but when you're finished with your serious studies there, maybe we could take some time out for recreation and do a little math."
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Situational Irony where what happens is different from what we expect Example: The president of Microsoft, Bill Gates, wins a contest whose grand prize is a new Apple computer system.
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Dramatic Irony Where the audience or reader knows something a character does not know Example: Have you ever seen a horror movie where the killer is on the loose? You, and the rest of the audience, know that the teenagers should not go walking in the woods late at night, but they think a midnight stroll would be romantic. Needless to say, the teens become the next victims.
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Purpose for Irony 1. To produce humor 2. To surprise the reader 3. To comment on human behavior
1. You work at a fire extinguisher factory. When you get home, your house is on fire, and you don't have a fire extinguisher.
2. A man is rear ended at a stoplight. He gets out of the car to see his bumper is torn off, and his taillights are smashed. He yells, Fantastic! in an angry voice.
3. Sally got up from the lunch table to get a drink. While she was gone, we all watched Brad, Sally s ex-boyfriend, spit into her soup. No one said a word to Sally as we all sat and watched her eat her soup.
4. "She gave us a twohour lecture on how to make a cup of tea. It was really fascinating."
A friend of mine, returning to South Africa from a long stay in Europe, found herself with some time to spare at the airport. Buying a cup of coffee and a package of cookies, she staggered, laden with luggage, to an unoccupied table. She was reading the morning paper when she became aware of someone rustling at her table.
From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. She did not want to make a scene, so she leaned across and took a cookie herself.
A minute or so passed. More rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie. By the time they were down to the last cookie, she was very angry but still could not bring herself to say anything.
Then the young man broke the cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half and left. Later when she looked in her bag for her plane ticket, she noticed her package of cookies. She had been eating his.
6. The audience knows that Juliet is only sleeping, but Romeo believes that she is dead.
7. Upon walking into pouring rain, the man without an umbrella murmured, "Nice weather."
8. The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later they were both eaten by a killer whale.
9. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle.
Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Until that moment he had been happily listening to his ipod.
10. Do you think Mom will be mad when I tell her I broke her crystal vase? No way, she will be thrilled when she finds out that you destroyed the priceless vase she inherited from her favorite aunt. Just let me know when you are going to tell her. I want to be there to see her express her joy.
11.
12. T-Mobile ad: An older brother makes fun of his brother's fave-five which consist of animal pictures that represent his friends (horse, turtle, chicken and giraffe). Then the brother is stumped by the pic of a pig. He snorts as he tries to figure out who the picture of the pig represents; the younger brother and friends laugh hysterically!
13. George, a dog lover, approached an old man sitting on a bench next to a dog. George asked the man, Does your dog bite? No, replied the older man. George reached down to pet the animal and was immediately bitten by the dog.
Shocked and angry, George questioned the man, I thought you said your dog didn t bite! My dog doesn t bite, the man said, but that is not my dog.
14. "This is my brilliant son, who failed out of college."
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20..In your attempt to relieve your headache, you decide to take Advil. In your attempt to open the package, you slice your finger. The cut is so bad that you have to go to the hospital for stitches.
21. You are playing catch with a friend. Your friend throws the ball and it hits you in the face. Your friend asks, Are your hurt? You say, No, it feels great.
22. Your uncle is an expert fisherman. He has won a few amateur fishing contests. Your uncle takes your little sister fishing. He catches no fish, and your little sister catches 5 fish.
23. Joe and Matt are fishing. Joe says, I think I got a big one. Joe pulls a fish out of the pond. The fish he catches is actually about 6 inches long.
24. Joe and Matt are fishing. Joe says, I think I got a big one. Joe pulls a fish out of the pond. The fish he catches is actually about 6 inches long. Matt says, Holy Cow, Lets measure that fish. I bet it is a record breaker.
25. It is the fifth day in a row and Tina still does not have her homework. The teacher says, Lovely, I am so glad you are dedicated to your studies.
26. Mary and John were gossiping about Paula. Neither John or Mary realize that Paula is standing right behind them.
27. The audience sees the wife preparing her coffee. She adds cream and sugar to her coffee and then leaves the room. In an effort to help his wife, her husband adds sugar and cream to her coffee. The wife takes a sip of her coffee and then spits it out.
29. You are in a meeting full of people, and you get up from your chair. Your boss enters the room, and he takes the only available chair which is your chair. Not knowing your chair is missing, you go back to sit down and fall to the floor.
30 You are in a meeting full of people, and you get up from your chair. Your boss enters the room, and he takes the only available chair. You go back to sit down and fall to the floor. You say, Thanks, boss, I didn t want to sit in that chair anyway.
1. You work at a fire extinguisher factory. When you get home, your house is on fire, and you don't have a fire extinguisher.
2. A man is rear ended at a stoplight. He gets out of the car to see his bumper is torn off, and his taillights are smashed. He yells, Fantastic! in an angry voice.
3. Sally got up from the lunch table to get a drink. While she was gone, we all watched Brad, Sally s ex-boyfriend, spit into her soup. No one said a word to Sally as we all sat and watched her eat her soup.
4. "She gave us a twohour lecture on how to make a cup of tea. It was really fascinating."
5. A friend of mine, returning to South Africa from a long stay in Europe, found herself with some time to spare at the airport. Buying a cup of coffee and a package of cookies, she staggered, laden with luggage, to an unoccupied table. She was reading the morning paper when she became aware of someone rustling at her table.
From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. She did not want to make a scene, so she leaned across and took a cookie herself.
A minute or so passed. More rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie. By the time they were down to the last cookie, she was very angry but still could not bring herself to say anything.
Then the young man broke the cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half and left. Later when she looked in her bag for her plane ticket, she noticed her package of cookies. She had been eating his.
6. The audience knows that Juliet is only sleeping, but Romeo believes that she is dead.
7. Upon walking into pouring rain, the man without an umbrella murmured, "Nice weather."
8. The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later they were both eaten by a killer whale.
9. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle.
Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Until that moment he had been happily listening to his ipod.
10. Do you think Mom will be mad when I tell her I broke her crystal vase? No way, she will be thrilled when she finds out that you destroyed the priceless vase she inherited from her favorite aunt. Just let me know when you are going to tell her. I want to be there to see her express her joy.
11.
12. T-Mobile ad: An older brother makes fun of his brother's fave-five which consist of animal pictures that represent his friends (horse, turtle, chicken and giraffe). Then the brother is stumped by the pic of a pig. He snorts as he tries to figure out who the picture of the pig represents; the younger brother and friends laugh hysterically!
13. George, a dog lover, approached an old man sitting on a bench next to a dog. George asked the man, Does your dog bite? No, replied the older man. George reached down to pet the animal and was immediately bitten by the dog.
. Shocked and angry, George questioned the man, I thought you said your dog didn t bite! My dog doesn t bite, the man said, but that is not my dog.
14. "This is my brilliant son, who failed out of college."
15.
16.
17.
20. In your attempt to relieve your headache, you decide to take Advil. In your attempt to open the package, you slice your finger. The cut is so bad that you have to go to the hospital for stitches.
21. You are playing catch with a friend. Your friend throws the ball and it hits you in the face. Your friend asks, Are your hurt? You say, No, it feels great.
22. Your uncle is an expert fisherman. He has won a few amateur fishing contests. Your uncle takes your little sister fishing. He catches no fish, and your little sister catches 5 fish.
23. Joe and Matt are fishing. Joe says, I think I got a big one. Joe pulls a fish out of the pond. The fish he catches is actually about 6 inches long.
24. Joe and Matt are fishing. Joe says, I think I got a big one. Joe pulls a fish out of the pond. The fish he catches is actually about 6 inches long. Matt says, Holy Cow, Lets measure that fish. I bet it is a record breaker.
Verbal Irony
25. It is the fifth day in a row and Tina still does not have her homework. The teacher says, Lovely, I am so glad you are dedicated to your studies.
26. Mary and John were gossiping about Paula. Neither John or Mary realize that Paula is standing right behind them.
27. The audience sees the wife preparing her coffee. She adds cream and sugar to her coffee and then leaves the room. In an effort to help his wife, her husband adds sugar and cream to her coffee. The wife takes a sip of her coffee and then spits it out.
29. You are in a meeting full of people, and you get up from your chair. Your boss enters the room, and he takes the only available chair which is your chair. Not knowing your chair is missing, you go back to sit down and fall to the floor.
30. You are in a meeting full of people, and you get up from your chair. Your boss enters the room, and he takes the only available chair. You go back to sit down and fall to the floor. You say, Thanks, boss, I didn t want to sit in that chair anyway.