Līva Vollenberga, Madara Palsiņa, angļi 3.kurss, 2.

grupa 1

Stylistic devices- Irony, Sarcasm, Hyperbole, Understatement,

Litotes, Oxymoron

Irony – a clash of two diametrically opposite meanings; saying one thing but
meaning just the opposite. It is a form of speech where people conceal or contradict
the real meaning by the used words.

Three kinds of irony are commonly recognized:

1. Verbal irony is a trope in which the intended meaning of a statement differs

from the meaning that the words appear to express.

2. Situational irony involves an incongruity between what is expected or

intended and what actually occurs.

3. Dramatic irony is an effect produced by a narrative in which the audience

knows more about present or future circumstances than a character in the
story.

Examples:

 It was ironic that the fire station burned down.

 Is it ironic that I can’t go to church because I have a theology test to study for?

 "Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."

/S. T. Coleridge/

 "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."

(Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

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 Sarcasm – bitter, socially and politically aimed form of irony. Emphatical stating
the flat opposite of the truth. It is a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a
bitter gibe or taunt.

Examples:

 Yeah, I've always wanted to dig out a trench with a teaspoon while some
genius flooded the thing by bursting a water main.

 I started out with nothing & still have most of it left.

 Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence (Asleigh Brilliant)
 The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the
power of speech (George Bernard Shaw)
 He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends (Oscar Wilde)

Hyperbole – Figure of speech in which the statements are exaggerated or

extravagant, overstated to create a strong impression, give grater emphasis. It is not
meant to be taken literally.

Examples:

 "I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from
head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far."
(Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi")
 Your father is so low he has to look up to tie his shoes.
 They ran like greased lightning
 He's got tons of money
 Her brain is the size of a pea
 He is older than the hills
 I had a ton of homework
 It took him two seconds to drive here
 Her smile was a mile wide

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 Līva Vollenberga, Madara Palsiņa, angļi 3.kurss, 2.grupa 3

 Understatement- A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker

deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
Contrast with hyperbole.

e.g.

- "It's just a flesh wound." (Black Knight, after having both arms cut off, in Monty
Python and the Holy Grail).

- "The grave's a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace."(Andrew
Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")

-"A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing
of beauty."(Mark Twain)

- "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the
brain."(Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger)

Litotes- A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an

affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

e.g.

- "The grave's a fine a private place, but none, I think, do there embrace."
(Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")

- "Now we have a refuge to go to. A refuge that the Cylons know nothing
about! It won't be an easy journey."(Battlestar Galactica, 2003)

- "'Not a bad day's work on the whole,' he muttered, as he quietly took off his
mask, and his pale, fox-like eyes glittered in the red glow of the fire. 'Not a
bad day's work.'"(Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1905)

- "Because though no beauty by fashion-mag standards, the ample-bodied Ms.

Klause, we agreed, was a not unclever, not unattractive young woman, not
unpopular with her classmates both male and female."(John Barth, "The Bard
Award," in The Development: Nine Stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008)

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 Oxymoron- A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms
appear side by side; a compressed paradox.

e.g.

- the expressions "act naturally," "random order," "original copy," "found missing,"
"alone together," "criminal justice," "old news," "peace force," "even odds," "awful
good," "student teacher," "definite possibility," "definite maybe," "terribly pleased,"
"civil war," "real phony," "ill health," "turn up missing," "jumbo shrimp," "loose
tights," "small crowd," and "clearly misunderstood"

- "How is it possible to have a civil war?"(George Carlin)

- This love feel I, that feel no love in this."(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

- "I hate intolerant people."(Gloria Steinem)

- "A yawn may be defined as a silent yell."(G.K. Chesterton)

http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/understateterm.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/litotesterm.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/oxymoronterm.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hyperbole-examples.html

http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/sarcasticquotes/2