TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Christopher Warner: What is verbal irony?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Great weather we're having! Awesome job! You're a tremendous athlete! Compliments, right? Well, maybe. dnpindeeg on the attitude and tone of voice behind these lines, they very well may be compliments. They may also be, though, peiontd and attacking liens. This slight change of autdttie behind the lines reveals what we call verbal irony. So when someone says, "Great weethar we're having," it is quite possible that the person really means that if the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the wind is calm. But if the weather is horrible, the clouds are lmonoig, and the wind is a raging tempest, and someone says, "Great weather we're having," he probably doesn't actually mean that. He probably means that the weather is horrible, but he has said the opposite. This is verbal irony when the speaker says the opposite of what he means. I know what you're thinking. Isn't this sarcasm, isn't the speaker being sarcastic? Yes. When a speaker says the opposite of what he means, that is verbal irony. When a speaker then goes the step farther to mean the opposite of what he says and seeks to be a little pointed and mean, like he's making fun of something, then you have saacsrm. Take the second example: "Awesome job!" Someone apchiomnsclig his life-long dream: awesome! Someone winning a strpos championship: awesome! Someone rear-ends another car: not awesome. So when the passenger says, "Awesome job!" they probably mean the opposite with a hint of poking fun. That is verbal irony and that is sarcastic. "You're a talented athlete," said to an Olympian: authentic, no verbal irony present. Said to the klutzy kid tripping into English class and spilling his books and pencil case all over the room, now that is just harsh and verbally ironic because what you said is not what you meant. That is verbal irony. You have said the opposite of what you mean. Additionally, since you have the intention of mocking this poor person, you have not only been vrlebaly iornic, but sasatrcic as well. Beware, though. While all sarcasm fits the definition of verbal irony, not all verbal irony is sarcastic. vrbeal inroy is where what is meant is the opposite of what is said, while sarcasm adds that little punch of attitude. There are times, though, where another laeyr of meaning can be present without that sarcastic tone. Alright, now go out there and find those examples of verbal irony and sarcasm. Good luck! No, seriously, I mean it, good luck. No, no, really, I truly want to wish you luck on this duciflift task. Ok, ok, sincerely good luck. You can do it! No verbal irony here.

Open Cloze

Great weather we're having! Awesome job! You're a tremendous athlete! Compliments, right? Well, maybe. _________ on the attitude and tone of voice behind these lines, they very well may be compliments. They may also be, though, _______ and attacking _____. This slight change of ________ behind the lines reveals what we call verbal irony. So when someone says, "Great _______ we're having," it is quite possible that the person really means that if the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the wind is calm. But if the weather is horrible, the clouds are _______, and the wind is a raging tempest, and someone says, "Great weather we're having," he probably doesn't actually mean that. He probably means that the weather is horrible, but he has said the opposite. This is verbal irony when the speaker says the opposite of what he means. I know what you're thinking. Isn't this sarcasm, isn't the speaker being sarcastic? Yes. When a speaker says the opposite of what he means, that is verbal irony. When a speaker then goes the step farther to mean the opposite of what he says and seeks to be a little pointed and mean, like he's making fun of something, then you have _______. Take the second example: "Awesome job!" Someone _____________ his life-long dream: awesome! Someone winning a ______ championship: awesome! Someone rear-ends another car: not awesome. So when the passenger says, "Awesome job!" they probably mean the opposite with a hint of poking fun. That is verbal irony and that is sarcastic. "You're a talented athlete," said to an Olympian: authentic, no verbal irony present. Said to the klutzy kid tripping into English class and spilling his books and pencil case all over the room, now that is just harsh and verbally ironic because what you said is not what you meant. That is verbal irony. You have said the opposite of what you mean. Additionally, since you have the intention of mocking this poor person, you have not only been ________ ______, but _________ as well. Beware, though. While all sarcasm fits the definition of verbal irony, not all verbal irony is sarcastic. ______ _____ is where what is meant is the opposite of what is said, while sarcasm adds that little punch of attitude. There are times, though, where another _____ of meaning can be present without that sarcastic tone. Alright, now go out there and find those examples of verbal irony and sarcasm. Good luck! No, seriously, I mean it, good luck. No, no, really, I truly want to wish you luck on this _________ task. Ok, ok, sincerely good luck. You can do it! No verbal irony here.

Solution

lines
irony
ironic
verbal
difficult
layer
sarcasm
pointed
looming
sports
attitude
sarcastic
accomplishing
verbally
depending
weather

Original Text

Great weather we're having! Awesome job! You're a tremendous athlete! Compliments, right? Well, maybe. Depending on the attitude and tone of voice behind these lines, they very well may be compliments. They may also be, though, pointed and attacking lines. This slight change of attitude behind the lines reveals what we call verbal irony. So when someone says, "Great weather we're having," it is quite possible that the person really means that if the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the wind is calm. But if the weather is horrible, the clouds are looming, and the wind is a raging tempest, and someone says, "Great weather we're having," he probably doesn't actually mean that. He probably means that the weather is horrible, but he has said the opposite. This is verbal irony when the speaker says the opposite of what he means. I know what you're thinking. Isn't this sarcasm, isn't the speaker being sarcastic? Yes. When a speaker says the opposite of what he means, that is verbal irony. When a speaker then goes the step farther to mean the opposite of what he says and seeks to be a little pointed and mean, like he's making fun of something, then you have sarcasm. Take the second example: "Awesome job!" Someone accomplishing his life-long dream: awesome! Someone winning a sports championship: awesome! Someone rear-ends another car: not awesome. So when the passenger says, "Awesome job!" they probably mean the opposite with a hint of poking fun. That is verbal irony and that is sarcastic. "You're a talented athlete," said to an Olympian: authentic, no verbal irony present. Said to the klutzy kid tripping into English class and spilling his books and pencil case all over the room, now that is just harsh and verbally ironic because what you said is not what you meant. That is verbal irony. You have said the opposite of what you mean. Additionally, since you have the intention of mocking this poor person, you have not only been verbally ironic, but sarcastic as well. Beware, though. While all sarcasm fits the definition of verbal irony, not all verbal irony is sarcastic. Verbal irony is where what is meant is the opposite of what is said, while sarcasm adds that little punch of attitude. There are times, though, where another layer of meaning can be present without that sarcastic tone. Alright, now go out there and find those examples of verbal irony and sarcasm. Good luck! No, seriously, I mean it, good luck. No, no, really, I truly want to wish you luck on this difficult task. Ok, ok, sincerely good luck. You can do it! No verbal irony here.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
verbal irony	10
good luck	2

Important Words

accomplishing
additionally
adds
alright
athlete
attacking
attitude
authentic
awesome
beware
birds
books
call
calm
case
change
class
clouds
compliments
definition
depending
difficult
english
examples
find
fits
fun
good
great
harsh
hint
horrible
intention
ironic
irony
kid
klutzy
layer
lines
looming
luck
making
meaning
means
meant
mocking
passenger
pencil
person
pointed
poking
poor
present
punch
raging
reveals
room
sarcasm
sarcastic
seeks
shining
sincerely
singing
slight
speaker
spilling
sports
step
sun
talented
task
tempest
thinking
times
tone
tremendous
tripping
verbal
verbally
voice
weather
wind
winning