How to Use Sarcasm in English Learn Spoken English
Hello, I’m Mia.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can learn about how to
be sarcastic in English.
Imagine your friend has an exam.
Your friend is really lazy, doesn’t study
at all, and fails the exam.
Someone says to your friend:
It’s surprising that you failed, after all
the hard work you did.
This is an example of sarcasm.
In this lesson, we’ll look at how you can
be sarcastic in English, along with some key
words and phrases you can learn to practice
your new humour!
Let’s get started.
Part One: What is Sarcasm?
Sarcasm means saying the opposite of what
you mean in order to make fun of someone.
It’s very common in the UK and often leads
to confusion when you’re learning English!
British humour is famous for using a lot of
sarcasm with a very straight face, so many
people find it hard to tell when British people
are joking or being serious.
Now, you don’t need to be confused anymore,
let’s take a look at some examples of sarcasm
so that you can see what it looks like!
For example, imagine you see your co-worker
sitting at his desk with his feet up, reading
a magazine.
You could say:
You look busy!
Or:
I see you’re working hard!
Now, your co-worker is not really busy or
working hard.
By saying the opposite of what he’s doing,
you are using sarcasm to create humour in
the situation and make fun of your co-worker.
Ready to learn how to be sarcastic?
Part Two: When to be Sarcastic:
Okay, now that we’ve looked at what sarcasm
is, let’s take a look at when to be sarcastic.
As sarcasm is a type of humour that responds
to a situation, firstly it’s important to
know which situations work well with sarcasm.
The first situation is when something bad
happens to you.
Imagine that you’ve just made yourself a
slice of toast.
You put butter on it—and then you drop it
onto the carpet!
The butter is all over your new carpet.
In this situation you might say something
like:
Great.
Fantastic.
Brilliant.
Of course, this is not great, fantastic or
brilliant at all!
You are being sarcastic.
In the UK, this response is common when something
goes wrong.
Remember that we only use it with small things
that are annoying, not something really serious
or dangerous.
The next situation is very similar.
You can use sarcasm when somebody else does
something wrong.
Imagine that your friend is making a drink.
When he goes to sit down, he spills it all
over himself.
You could use this opportunity to be sarcastic
by saying something like:
Well done.
Or:
Great job.
As you can see, you are saying the opposite
of what you think.
Another time we might use sarcasm is when
somebody says something that’s so obvious
that it sounds a little stupid.
Imagine that your friend says:
Did you know that Madrid is the capital of
Spain?
You might say:
No.
Really?
I did not know that.
Of course, you did know that and by using
a sarcastic response, you can make the situation
funny.
You can also use sarcasm when something unsurprising
happens.
Imagine that your friend is writing an essay
for a history class.
He’s not very good at history, he doesn’t
study and he writes the essay very quickly,
an hour before the he has to hand it in.
Unsurprisingly, he gets an ‘F’ on his
essay.
When your friend tells you:
I got an ‘F’ on my history essay.
Of course, you’re not surprised at all.
You might say something like:
I’m shocked!
Or:
No one saw that coming!
Of course, there are many other situations
where you could be sarcastic, but these are
the main ones to remember.
It’s important to remember that sarcasm
should be used in light situations where you
want to make a joke.
Be careful not to use it if the situation
is more serious or if someone’s upset—you
don’t want to offend them!
Part Three: How to be Sarcastic:
Now that you have a good idea of when to use
sarcasm, let’s look at some key phrases
and expressions you might use when you’re
being sarcastic.
A lot of sarcastic responses tend to be short
phrases or interjections.
Like all humour, sarcasm depends partly on
responding quickly, so it works well with
short responses.
Imagine that your friend offers to help you
paint your new apartment.
You’re working hard.
You’ve almost finished two walls already,
and then you look over and see that your friend
hasn’t even painted half of one wall yet!
You might say:
Great job.
Thanks for the help.
Take your time.
These phrases make the situation humorous
through sarcasm.
Be careful you don’t sound too annoyed when
you say them!
These phrases are useful in other situations,
too.
For example, if your friend is helping you
cook dinner and he burns it, you could also
say:
Good job!
Or:
Thanks for the help.
As you can see, these phrases would work well
in a lot of different situations.
Later, the same friend tells you he has to
cook for twenty people at a dinner party this
weekend.
Having seen his lack of cooking skills, you
say:
Good luck with that.
That’ll be fun.
If one of your friends tells a bad joke that
isn’t very funny, you could say:
That’s so funny.
Hilarious.
Can you see how saying the opposite of what
you mean makes something sarcastic?
When you remember that, it’s very easy to
be sarcastic in these situations!
Now imagine that you and another friend are
both applying for the same job.
By learning and using short phrases like these,
you can be sarcastic in a range of situations
very easily.
Why don’t you give it a go?
Part Four: What happens if you’re Misunderstood?
Hopefully by now you’re feeling confident
enough to try being sarcastic!
It’s important to go out and practice your
new language skills so that you improve them.
Don’t worry about making mistakes—this
is natural and it happens.
Now, let’s see how you can make it clear
that you’re being sarcastic.
It’s important that people can understand
that your sarcasm is a joke and that you aren’t
just being mean.
Listen to this:
Thanks for the help.
Good luck with that.
I did not know that.
That’ll be fun.
Can you see the problem?
It’s not obvious if I’m being sarcastic
or not, which can make things very confusing!
Sometimes you can use intonation to show that
you’re being sarcastic.
Some people make sarcastic phrases flatter
or more emotionless like this:
Thanks for the help.
Good luck with that.
Other people might use a stronger intonation,
drawing out the words to emphasise them, like
this:
I did not know that.
That’ll be fun.
Can you tell the difference now?
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help.
The first was genuine and the second was sarcastic,
of course!
It’s important to remember that English
is a very wide language with a lot of accents
and personality, so sarcasm can sound different.
Most people will know you’re being sarcastic
from the context of the conversation.
Facial expressions also help to show people
that you’re not being serious, so it’s
important to use these too!
If you are misunderstood by someone, don’t
worry!
It’s easy to make it clear that you weren’t
being serious.
You could say something like:
I’m only joking.
Or:
Just kidding!
This makes it clear that what you said was
a joke.
You could also tell them that you’re being
sarcastic, by saying something like:
I was being sarcastic.
That was sarcasm.
I didn’t mean that, it was sarcastic.
That’s the end of our lesson.
You made it all the way to the end of a short
video!
Well done!
What an achievement!
I’m just kidding, of course!
You can see more of our free lessons on our
website: oxfordonlineenglish.com.
Thanks for watching!
See you next time.