Verbal irony is the use of words to mean something different from what a person actually says.The main feature of verbal irony that sets it apart from the other different types of irony is that it is used by a speaker intentionally. It occurs in a conversation where a person aims to be understood as meaning something different to what his or her words literally mean.
Examples of verbal irony include:
“Thanks for the ticket officer you just made my day!”
“I can’t wait to read the seven hundred page report.”
The above examples show how irony is used to show someone’s frustration or disappointment.
THIS IS THE MOST DETECTABLE FORM OF IRONY.
SITUATIONAL IRONY
It involves a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.
Situational irony occurs when the exact opposite of what is meant to happen, happens.
An example would be when someone buys a gun to protect himself, but the same gun is used by another individual to injure him. One would expect that the gun would keep him safe, but it has actually caused him injury.
There is however a difference between situational irony and coincidence or bad luck.
When someone washes his car and it rains, that is just bad luck; nothing led him or her to think that it would not rain. However, when a TV weather presenter gets caught in an unexpected storm, it is ironic because he or she is expected to know the exact weather changes.
For situational irony to occur there has to be something that leads a person to think that a particular event or situation is unlikely happen.
