paradox something absurd or contradictory: a statement, proposition, or situation that seems to be

absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true

Examples of Paradox
Your enemys friend is your enemy.
I am nobody.
What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young. George Bernard Shaw
Wise fool
Truth is honey which is bitter.
I can resist anything but temptation. Oscar Wilde

I must be cruel to be kind

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Child is father of the man
This statement has seemingly incorrect proposition but when we look deep into its meaning, we see the
truth. The poet is saying that the childhood experiences become the basis for all adult occurrences.

oxymoron expression with contradictory words: a phrase in which two words of contradictory
meaning are used together for special effect, e.g. "wise fool" or "legal murder"
Oxymoron Example List
open secret

larger half

clearly confused

act naturally alone together

Hell's Angels

found missing

liquid gas

civil engineer

deafening silence

seriously funny

Microsoft Works

military intelligence jumbo shrimp

living dead

irony incongruity: incongruity between what actually happens and what might be expected to happen,
especially when this disparity seems absurd or laughable

Situational Irony Examples:

1. There are roaches infesting the office of a pest control service.

2. A plumber spends all day working on leaky faucets and comes home to find a pipe has
burst in his home.
Verbal Irony Examples:
1. Looking at her son's messy room, Mom says, "Wow, you could win an award for
cleanliness!"
2. On the way to school, the school bus gets a flat tire and the bus driver says, "Excellent!
This day couldn't start off any better!"
Dramatic Irony Examples:
1. The audience knows that a killer is hiding in the closet, but the girl in the horror movie
does not.
2. The reader knows that a storm is coming, but the children playing on the playground do
not.
Examples of Irony in Literature:
1. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience/reader knows that Juliet has faked her
death, but Romeo does not and he thinks she is really dead. (dramatic irony)
2. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the main character Scout goes to school and is
already able to read. While one would expect a teacher to be pleased about that, Scout's
teacher does not like that she is already able to read. (situational irony)
3. In Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy says of Elizabeth Bennett that she is not
"handsome enough to tempt me," but he falls in love with her in spite of himself. (verbal
irony)