While dramatic irony entails a contrast between what an audience knows and what characters know, verbal irony is a contrast between words and their meaning, and situational irony is a contrast between ...

Although verbal irony is one of the most common types used in casual conversation and storytelling, it can be easy to mix it up with other types of irony. Understanding how it differs can be helpful ...

Adapted from "Irony and Sarcasm" by Roger Kreuz (MIT Press, 2020). Reprinted with permission from MIT Press. In February 1996, Alanis Morissette released the fourth single from “Jagged Little Pill,” ...

Like simile, metaphor, personification and hyperbole, irony is a very useful figure of speech. Writers and other creative workers regularly make use of it, including comedians. It can, however, also ...

In fairness to Alanis, pop singers and Canadians aren’t the only ones who struggle to understand irony. There’s an entire line of cognitive research dedicated to understanding the concept (as well as ...

Fate plays cunning games, even in movies. Every good story, in one way or another, consists of a character’s goal and their obstacle. A character strives for something, and something gets in their way ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...