Irony is the
use of
words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Similarly, irony
may be a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea
Many
people believe verbal irony to be synonymous with sarcasm, but sarcasm is only one of the common types of verbal irony. It appears in four basic forms:
1- sarcasm (saying “Oh, fantastic!” when the situation is actually very bad)
2-Socratic irony (pretending to be ignorant to
show that someone else is ignorant: "I'm confused, I thought your curfew was at 11. Isn't it past 12 now?")
3- understatement (saying "We
don't get along" after having a huge fight with someone)
4- overstatement (saying "I'll
die if I can't go to the concert!")