Identifying Irony

Which type of irony is used when the reader or audience understands more about the events of a story than a character?

• Dramatic irony

• Situational irony

• Verbal irony

Fill in the blank: When what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate, it is called ______.

• Dramatic irony

• Situational irony

• Verbal irony

Which type of irony is used in the scenario where Juan lands flat on his can after trying to skateboard?

Making friends isn’t easy. Ask Juan Guerrero, who moved to New High School High three months

ago but he still eats lunch by himself. Nobody picks on him really, but they pretty much ignore him, at

least since the incident. You see, Juan had his chance. We almost adopted him into our crew, the skaters,

after Juan said he could skate. "Oh yeah?" asked my boy Romeo, "well, where’s your board?" Juan

replied shakily, "Uh, my mom ran over it with her car, but I do flips and grinds and all that stuff."

Romeo didn’t believe him. "Why don’t you use my board? Show me one of those flips," Romeo

challenged. Juan gulped and grabbed the board. "Uh... Ok," he replied. When you see a good skater on

TV or in a video game, skateboarding may look easy. In real life though, just moving without falling, let

alone doing any tricks, takes a lot of practice. So I wasn’t too surprised when Juan landed flat on his can

before he even made it across a single sidewalk square. "Wow! What an awesome flip, Tony Hawk.

You’ll have to teach me that," Romeo sneered. Now Juan eats lunch alone.

• Verbal Irony

• Situational Irony

• Dramatic Irony

In the story about Janet and the sweater, which type of irony is used?

"Oh, a sweater! That was nice Bobby," said Janet after opening the present. Janet thought the sweater

was hideous, but she appreciated her boyfriend’s effort. Still, she exchanged it for some boots the first

chance she got. She figured that Bobby would want her to be happy. A week later Bobby made

reservations for two at the nicest restaurant in town. "Janet, I want to take you somewhere special," He

said. "I have good news to tell you. Wear that sweater that I got you. It'll be perfect." Janet didn’t know

how to react, "Um... I don't think that sweater quite matches these boots I want to wear. Is it cool if I just

wear it another time?" Bobby huffed, "You know, Janet, that sweater was expensive. The least you

could do is act like you appreciate it." Janet saw no other option but to agree to wear the sweater, so she

did. Now she was in a pickle.

• A) Verbal Irony

• B) Situational Irony

• C) Dramatic Irony

Bertha Berger felt skinny after consuming 6,500 calories in a day. Which type of irony is used?

As the holiday season ended, Bertha Berger struggled to put on her blue jeans. They seemed much

tighter than usual, so she stepped on the bathroom scale and received the bad news. She had never seen

such a high number on the little scale, so she resolved to change. That day she threw out all the junk

food in her fridge and went grocery shopping. Determined to lose weight, she bought low-fat versions of

all her favorite foods. She had a low-sodium bacon sandwich with a diet soda for lunch. The sandwich

contained over 1,200 calories but had very little salt. For dinner she ate two turkey burgers with

reduced-fat cheese. Though she had consumed over 2,000 calories, Bertha felt like she deserved a

reward. So for dessert she ate two low-calorie ice-cream sandwiches. And before bed she ate a bag of

baked potato chips, which are healthier than normal chips. She dipped them in low-fat cream cheese.

Bertha had consumed around 6,500 calories that day, but she felt skinny. When she woke up the next

morning, she stepped on the scale. She couldn't wait to see how successful her diet had been.

• A) Verbal Irony

• B) Situational Irony

• C) Dramatic Irony

Why is this image an example of dramatic irony?

• The swimmer doesn't know that she is likely going to be eaten by a shark.

• The shark doesn't see the swimmer because his eyes are on the side of his head.

• The water must be really cold.

• This isn't irony, it's just an unfortunate meeting between human and fish.

Tags

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.SL.6.2

When we know that Clark Kent is really Superman, but no one else in the story knows...

• Verbal Irony

• Situational Irony

• Dramatic Irony

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RL.8.6