Situational irony The phrase that refers to the contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen is a situational irony. Irony is a figure of speech or a literary technique in which a certain phrase or statement has a two-way implication. There are three types of irony which is verbal irony or sarcasm, dramatic irony and situational irony. Furthermore, in the context of situational irony, here are some examples: 1. The fire station burns down
2. A psychologist doesn’t like people
3. Wants to lose weight but eats a lot