• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Verbal, situational and dramatic irony; Allusion, irony, oxymoron and pun). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which type of irony matches this description? Tension or humour created because we can see a character's mistake before they can. (verbal irony / dramatic irony / situational irony) → dramatic ironyPrompt: Is the contrast in what someone SAYS, in what HAPPENS, or in what the AUDIENCE knows?
2. Which device is used? Leaving the library for the last time was a bittersweet farewell. (pun / allusion / oxymoron / verbal irony) → oxymoronPrompt: Is it a reference to a famous story, contradictory words side by side, a play on words, or the opposite of what's expected?
3. Which type of irony is used here? The safety inspector slipped on a spill he had forgotten to report. (situational irony / dramatic irony / verbal irony) → situational ironyPrompt: Does a character say something they don't mean?

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: Euphemism, oxymoron, paradox and understatement. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which figure of speech matches this description? The opposite of hyperbole: playing something down for effect.
• Step 1: These figures play with meaning: euphemism softens, oxymoron joins opposites, paradox seems impossible but is true, understatement plays things down.
• Step 2: understatement: Deliberately presenting something as much smaller or less serious than it is.
• Step 3: So the answer is: understatement
• Answer: understatement
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which figure of speech matches this description? Deliberately presenting something as much smaller or less serious than it is. (paradox / understatement / euphemism / oxymoron) → understatementPrompt: Ask: does it soften, combine opposites in two words, seem self-contradictory as a whole idea, or downplay?
2. Which figure of speech is used here? Climbing Everest without oxygen is slightly challenging. (understatement / oxymoron / euphemism / paradox) → understatementPrompt: Two contradictory words side by side → oxymoron; a whole statement that seems impossible → paradox.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Type the figure of speech (in English) that matches this description. Two contradictory words placed directly together. → oxymoronPrompt: Ask: does it soften, combine opposites in two words, seem self-contradictory as a whole idea, or downplay?
2. Which figure of speech is used here? The plan was an open secret. (paradox / euphemism / understatement / oxymoron) → oxymoronPrompt: Two contradictory words side by side → oxymoron; a whole statement that seems impossible → paradox.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-10.