20895 ACE Language (Yr 6) Structures and Language Features

Humour in texts – 1
Resource sheet
This set of pages is to provide background information for teachers and to give assistance
to students when writing their own humorous texts.
NOTE: Humour in texts is very subjective. What one person considers humorous another
person may not.
Sources of humour in texts can be described as broadly covering the following scenarios:
• something unexpected happens
• something says something unexpected
• something terrible happens to someone else
• something embarrassing happens to someone else
• someone does something silly, awkward or clumsy.
Specific elements of humour in long or short texts may include:
1. Subject matter being dealt with; for example, bodily functions.
2. Situations:
• what you see or hear is different to expectations; for example, a policeman who is
afraid of criminals
• a certain expectation is set up, then a twist or surprising ending occurs; for example,
a bomb explodes but is full of soap bubbles
• the usual rules of reason are relaxed and the impossible becomes possible; for
example, a shy person becomes the lead singer in a rock band
• examining issues which are sociably unacceptable or taboo usually within a safe
framework of jokes; for example, ’If you had half a brain, it would be lonely’
• switching identities, roles or functions; for example, parent and child take on each
other’s bodies
• authority figures such as teachers or parents become adversaries; for example, ’No
more pencils. No more books. No more teachers’ dirty looks’
• an author’s work, song or an idea is made fun of or imitated; for example, ’There
was an old woman who swallowed a fly’ becomes ’There was an old bloke who
swallowed a chook’
• humour relating to a specific topic or ’in’ jokes; for example, Q: At which sport do
waiters excel? Ans: Tennis, because they serve so well.
• exaggeration leads to disastrous consequences; for example, a teacher who can’t
sing at all takes a music class
• absurd things; for example, a hyena becomes a wildlife warden
• something does not fit into its proper place or situation; for example, an astronaut
takes a flying lesson
• a character does or says the opposite of what he/she means to, as in irony (a figure
of speech or literary device in which the literal meaning is the opposite of that
intended)
• funny human predicaments; for example, someone losing their swimming costume
after diving into a pool.
Australian Curriculum English – Language: Text structure and organisation (Year 6) www.ricpublications.com.au R.I.C. Publications ®
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Understand how authors often innovate on text structures and play with language features to achieve particular aesthetic, humorous and persuasive purposes and effects (ACELA1518)
© Australian Curriculum: Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012