Language questions are more frequently seen in Secondary 3 narrative comprehension passages.
Metaphor, tone, and similes are often posed in an array of Secondary 3 English questions seeking your knowledge of the text.
The irony is by far more often seen as it transposes the way you are meant to know what the author is thinking.
What is irony? It is a juxtaposition of ideas signifying the way things have turned out rather surprisingly.
Irony questions are language-based questions meant to test on your literary understanding of the text. After all, this is the most comprehensive part of understanding a text.
You need to understand the way literary devices are used and here’s a breakdown of how irony is used and how to ace the irony questions.
#1 Why is irony used and how?
Irony is used to reveal a state of affairs or how actions have transpired. It is meant to reveal the significant way people behave in relation to situations, morals, and their lapses.
Sometimes, ironic statements are meant to reveal how we are behaving but should not. This is the basis of all irony.
Ironic statements are meant to make us think about the deeper significance of the text.
Why is the person behaving like this? Why is he saying this?
Or why is he doing this?
It is meant to make us reflect that there is more to it than we see and hear.
It is also supposed to make us arrive at our own decisions. We are meant to think independently.
We need to know that we cannot accept what a character says just because he says it.
We need to make our own independent moral decisions and sometimes differ with the speaker or character.
Ironic statements are supposed to function in this way.
Therefore, it would be wise to deduce that ironic statements are meant to make you ponder and be wiser in the way you form conclusions.
Take your time and consider why something is happening or why a character is saying it. Not all of them are wise reflections. Form your own conclusions.
#2 Irony questions are often seen in Narrative comprehension passages
These Secondary 3 English questions are part of the textual flow. More often than not, a text is an extract from a literary novel.
And you are supposed to understand that something bigger than the text alone is going on.
Understand the background of the text. Piece together the why’s and how’s.
Irony questions have a slight moral tinge. They are meant to reveal to you the moral inconsistencies.
It could appear in dialogue. Examine what the character is saying in relation to the background.
Is this a match?
Is there something curiously out of place?
It could appear in a situation.
Someone could do something when he should actually be doing something else.
Most Secondary 3 English irony questions will ask you what he should be doing instead.
Reflect on the truth of the situation. Ponder on the awkwardness of it.
If it appears awkward, it should usually be ironic as well.
Your job is to explain this clearly.
#3 How to answer irony questions
Always explain what the situation or character is like. And then elaborate on what it should be.
Reveal that ‘how it is and what it should be’ instead.
Once you do this, you would have answered the irony question.
Do not beat about the bush.
Explain very succinctly and mention how the situation is from the text. And then show the two extreme polar opposites.
Reveal what is being mentioned and then go on to mention how this is so out of place with another thing.
The bottom line about all ironic situations is that it reveals what it should not be.
Your job is to reveal this.
You need to be sharp in picking out the irony parts in Secondary 3 narrative comprehension passages. Usually, the question will reveal the irony.
You will need to understand why this is mentioned and try to explain this. That is your job.
It takes some practice and I will always recommend the good old-fashioned way of reverting to Secondary 3 English model assessment books for practice.
Just practise doing the Secondary 3 English questions. If you are revising for your Secondary 3 English exams around the corner, just practise and refer to the answer sheet.
The answers are rather comprehensive and should reveal to you the irony very clearly.
Good luck with all your work!