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Palinkasocsi Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

What does it mean?

0Does anyone understand the following sentence? I just want to have a general understanding, to understand the basic logic of the sentence.02br
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01i00Further, as attested by the occurrence of a number of theory-non-conforming instances of ironic speech, most purely pragmatic views of conversational irony have a limited sphere of explanatory sway.02i02br
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00Any alternative wording?02br
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00Many thanks!00 0-
  

Top answer

0Experience shows that people who use sarcasm to get their point across aren't very persuasive. ]0-

— Philip

  • 0Experience shows that people who use sarcasm to get their point across aren't very persuasive.
  • ]0-
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12 Answers
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0Experience shows that people who use sarcasm to get their point across aren't very persuasive. [Frankly, that's only a wild guess!]0-
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0Hi, Philip, 02br
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00What I wanted to say (because it was me actually who composed this sentence) is:02br
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01b00most theories have a limited sphere of explanatory sway because each has to face ironic sentences that they cannot explain02b02br
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00Do you think my original sentence is vague for this meaning?02b
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1i00Further, as attested by the occurrence of a number of theory-non-conforming instances of ironic speech, most purely pragmatic views of conversational irony have a limited sphere of explanatory sway.02i02br
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00I understand this to mean, more-or-less: "Most purely pragmatic explanations of how irony is used in conversation have limited use. This is eviden
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0Test message. Please ignore.0-
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0It's elegant - hard to ignore.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Palinkasocsi12cite11b10most theories have a limited sphere of explanatory sway because each has to face ironic sentences that they cannot explain12b12br
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10Do you think my original sentence is vague for this meaning?12br
12blockquote
10 Yes. I think you need some
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0"instances of ironic speech"02br
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00"conversational irony" 02br
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00My problem in trying to make sense of this is that I've never thought of a sentence (or even a statement or an expression) as being ironic. I think of 01b01i01u00situations02u02i02b00 as ironic. (It may fall to people to point o
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0Hey, A., why don't you check out these links?02br
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01a05000 02a02br
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00Sarcasm is a sub-set.0230hrefhttp://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/c
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0Thanks, GG. It may be hard to believe, but this is news to me. I'd call these examples pure sarcasm, having nothing to do with irony. I readily admit that irony exists (as a situation) in language, and is a handy tool for sarcasm.02br
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00I thank the comic strips (funny papers) for some of my early education. My first exposure to the word:02br
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0Dear Mr. Wordy,02br
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00Don't worry, I understand your 01i00pragmatic-theory 02i00problem since (and correct me if I'm wrong) you are not supposed to be a linguist. In everyday language 01i00pragmatic02i00 and 01i00theoretical 02i00are kind of opposites, 01i00pragmatic 02i00having
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