Monday, March 5, 2012

Gingerich Grammar Mistakes: Irony and Coincidence

from :


Jon Gingerich is an editor, a fiction writer, and writes about politics and media. Click on the title to read the column in its entirety - including all of the twenty common mistakes.

You can learn more about Jon by clicking on his name.



Irony and Coincidence
Too many people claim something is the former when they actually mean the latter. For example, it’s not “ironic” that “Barbara moved from California to New York, where she ended up meeting and falling in love with a fellow Californian.” The fact that they’re both from California is a "coincidence." "Irony" is the incongruity in a series of events between the expected results and the actual results. "Coincidence" is a series of events that appear planned when they’re actually accidental. So, it would be "ironic" if “Barbara moved from California to New York to escape California men, but the first man she ended up meeting and falling in love with was a fellow Californian.”
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