Verbal Irony

Hyperbole Understatement

Litotes
V |
 

   

 



 
   

 

 ë

 

ë



  
V M

 
 

  

    
 
 
    

 Ô  
| 




R  
  
6   
 

Ô   
 



 ë 

 ë 

In LA, you canǯt do anything unless you drive. Now I canǯt do
anything unless I drink. And the drink-drive combination, it
really isnǯt possible out there. If you so much as loosen
your seatbelt or drop you ashes or pick your nose, then it's
an Alcatraz autopsy with the questions asked later. Any
indiscipline, you feel, any variation, and thereǯs a bullhorn,
a set of scope sights, and a coptered police drawing a bead
on your rug.
- 
  6

V p 
 
 

  !

  

 
 " 
V 0or example, in Monty Pythonǯs R

 

a suburban dinner
party is invaded by Death, who wears a long black cloak and carries a
scythe. He is the Grim Reaper; the party is over; the guests must all go
with him. "Well," says one party guest, "that's cast rather a gloom over
the evening, hasn't it?" In another scene, an Army officer has just lost his
leg. When asked how he feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and
responds, "Stings a bit.Dz
V So is the authorǯs purpose for using understatement always to achieve
 ?.....No. Not Always. Sometimes itǯs used   



 Consider the following:
V DzIt isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.dz
ȄJ.D. Salinger, R




V › 


   
  
 


 
   

#




 

  

 



 $

$rR 
 



  
 


V # 

%
! We are not amused.
- Running a marathon in under two hours is no small accomplishment.
- Her singing is not bad.
- The situation we have on our hands is not ideal.
V In order to understand the authorǯs purpose for using §
, as with all
other rhetorical strategies, you must consider the context. As with the
more general form of understatement, litotes may be used to downplay
an accomplishment, to be modest, maintain polite civility, to avoid panic
(to name a few).