Question

Which of the following sentences employ irony?
A. Olaf – the friendliest snowman in Arendelle – love the summer season
B. I was struggling to figure out how lightening works then it stuck me.
C. I know one thing; that I know nothing
D. The comedian was seriously funny.

Answer 1

Hint:Irony is the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny: a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in such a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expect. For example: "Good job" to a waiter who has dropped his tray.

Complete answer:
Option A) Olaf – the friendliest snowman in Arendelle – love the summer season – is the correct answer because we know that snow melts under the heat, and summer is supposed to be the hottest season. So it is indeed ironic that a snowman (who should consider summer his enemy) actually loves the summer season. Thus, there is irony in this situation.
Option B) I was struggling to figure out how lightning works then it stuck me – is an incorrect answer because the sentence is a pun. A pun is usually a joke that makes a play on words. It uses words that have several meanings or words that sound similar but have different meanings. In this sentence, the speaker makes a play on the word "stuck" and its association with lightning. We know that lightning strikes, "stuck" also means a sudden realization. This is the pun. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) I know one thing; that I know nothing – is an incorrect answer because this sentence is a paradox. A paradox is different from irony. A paradox is a statement that may seem absurd or contradictory but yet can be true, or at least make sense. We can see this happening in this option. The speaker says that he knows that he knows nothing. However, the fact that he says that he knows this means that he actually knows this one thing. Which goes against the fact that he knows nothing. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) The comedian was seriously funny – is an incorrect answer because it contains an oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two words that contradict each other but still makes sense. For example, "dumb genius". The oxymoron contained in option D is "seriously funny" where the meaning of "serious" is the complete opposite of "funny". Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Olaf – the friendliest snowman in Arendelle – love the summer season is an irony (option A).

Note:
The irony is a figure of speech or literary device in which what actually happens is completely different or opposite from the reader or audience's expectations. However, the irony is completely different from the other figure of speech as puns are joke based and they are the words with the same pronunciation but different meaning. Here, an oxymoron is adjectives that are followed by a noun i.e. ‘deafening silence’ or ‘extremely loud’. A paradox is different from irony as it describes a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory. However, Paradox, oxymoron, and pun are totally different from irony.