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The many hidden lessons in Netflix's A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

The widely anticipated launch of Netflix’s Series of Unfortunate Events has landed and our inner child couldn’t be happier. It’s dark, it’s dreary and it’s deliciously unfortunate.

Fans of the Lemony Snicket series will know a film adaptation came out in 2004 but it was as star-studded as it was lackluster. Producers behind the latest version have taken a more modest crack by condensing the 13 books into three seasons with roughly eight to ten episodes each.

The result is a well-paced story line that features some of the finer touches of the original series, such as the lessons in grammar.

Yes. Grammar. We’re not talking about crossing T’s and dotting I’s, either.

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Snicket’s novels were renowned for the linguistic lessons hidden in the plot and characterisations. Netflix’s reinvention incorporates this by placing bite-sized tutorials into central and secondary dialogues.

The teachings begin simplistic: the difference between literal and figurative, it’s and its before launching into more complex ideas such as linguistic redundancy.

Viewers are rewarded for paying attention as these lessons often give away some of the episode’s biggest clues.

Here’s what we learned.

Literally vs. Figuratively.

“It is very useful, when one is young, to learn the difference between “literally” and “figuratively.” If something happens literally, it actually happens; if something happens figuratively, it feels like it is happening,” the character playing Lemony Snicket explains.

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“If you are literally jumping for joy, for instance, it means you are leaping in the air because you are very happy. If you are figuratively jumping for joy, it means you are so happy that you could jump for joy, but are saving your energy for other matters.”

It’s vs. Its.

“This card says ‘it’s,’ i-t-apostrophe s,” Aunt Josephine explains.

It's not a mistake you want to print 400 times. (Source: Netflix.)

"That always means it is."

"You don't mean to say, 'every boat has it is own sail. You mean simply i-t-s, as in 'belonging to it.'"

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This is  vs. He is.

"You can't say, 'This is Count Olaf.' The proper sentence is, "He is Count Olaf."

Monsters under the bed are an irrational fear... right? (Source: Netflix)

Rational or Irrational Fears

"Rational and irrational, or in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don't."

Linguistic Redundancy. 

"It is not grammatically correct to say 'leave us all alone by ourselves,'" Aunt Josephine explains.

"You can say, 'leave us alone' or 'leave us by ourselves,' but not both."

Oh captain! My captain! (Source: Netflix.)
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Dramatic Irony

“Simply put, dramatic irony is when a person makes a harmless remark, and someone else who hears it knows something that makes the remark have a different, and usually unpleasant, meaning," the narrator says.

"For instance, if you were in a restaurant and said out loud, 'I can't wait to eat the Bunnings sausage* I ordered,' and there were people around who knew that the Bunnings sausage was poisoned and that you would die as soon as you took a bite, your situation would be one of dramatic irony.”

Did you spot any other big lessons or 'aha!' Moments? Share them below.

*No Bunnings sausages featured in the series. It is only wishful thinking.