Question
Just after we turned 16, my best friend and I got jobs at our favorite shoe store. On our first day, we were in the storage room, gazing up at the racks of merchandise we could spend the next several weeks hauling out to the floor for customers.
My friend properly knocked a cart into the rack and sent a small stack of boxes careening into the wall. He moved to clean up the mess, but I quickly stopped him. On the way in, he nearly tripped over his own feet. Enough was enough.
“ please, let me,” I said. “ you’re having a clumsy day. Let’s not make things worse.
He laughed as I peaked up the boxes and spun to put them back on the shelf. But as I spun, my hip caught the cart hard. It bounced into the rack again— and this time, the rack collapsed entirely. Bosses tumbled, shoes went everywhere, and soon we were staring at a huge mess.
“ at least we didn’t make it worse,” my friend said “ that would have been bad.”
Use the story excerpt to answer the question what narrative technique does the writer used to create an effect?
Verbal irony
Dramatic irony
Figurative language
Vivid description
My friend properly knocked a cart into the rack and sent a small stack of boxes careening into the wall. He moved to clean up the mess, but I quickly stopped him. On the way in, he nearly tripped over his own feet. Enough was enough.
“ please, let me,” I said. “ you’re having a clumsy day. Let’s not make things worse.
He laughed as I peaked up the boxes and spun to put them back on the shelf. But as I spun, my hip caught the cart hard. It bounced into the rack again— and this time, the rack collapsed entirely. Bosses tumbled, shoes went everywhere, and soon we were staring at a huge mess.
“ at least we didn’t make it worse,” my friend said “ that would have been bad.”
Use the story excerpt to answer the question what narrative technique does the writer used to create an effect?
Verbal irony
Dramatic irony
Figurative language
Vivid description
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The narrative technique used in the story excerpt to create an effect is **verbal irony**.
Verbal irony occurs when a speaker says one thing but means another, often in a way that highlights a situation's absurdity or unintended consequences. In this case, the friend's comment, "at least we didn’t make it worse," is ironic because the situation has clearly become worse after the rack collapsed, which humorously contrasts with what was just suggested.
Verbal irony occurs when a speaker says one thing but means another, often in a way that highlights a situation's absurdity or unintended consequences. In this case, the friend's comment, "at least we didn’t make it worse," is ironic because the situation has clearly become worse after the rack collapsed, which humorously contrasts with what was just suggested.