The time trick
Nick is a tricky kid. He loves school, but he hates boredom, and he likes being the center of attention. Over his time in school, he has become well-known by his peers for a trick that he sometimes employs. He asks an intentionally complicated question to the teacher that he knows will excite the teacher into a lengthy conversation, and before long, the class time is over. He uses his curiosity as a way of luring teachers into wasting time, outwitting them with irony.
The hero antagonist
Nick thinks he is essentially different than Mrs. Granger, but when he finally gets to read her letter, he discovers that she has been rooting for him and his made up word all along. That means that like Nick, Granger is also a trickster. She tricked him into being passionate about language by playing the role of the antagonist. This also illustrates how Nick is essentially a hero and antagonist in her classroom. He is a hero because of his essence, but he is also a trouble-maker and a competitive person. In the end, she proves her superiority as a trickster.
The infectious new word
Nick sets about to prove Mrs. Granger's theory about language wrong. He does this almost to punish her, making up a new word and strategically organizing the kids around this conspiracy where they will adopt it as slang until it catches on. The joke is that they will manufacture slang from scratch. Then, ironically, it works better than they ever expected, and instead of torturing Mrs. Granger, they accidentally honor her by proving her theory of language correct.
The dictionary
The dictionary is ironic in the novel because Nick hates the idea of reading the dictionary. He doesn't like words in that way, and he just knows that it will be boring. Then, through the story, his opinion transforms, and in the end, the mark of his success is that his new silly made-up word becomes canonized in the dictionary. This makes the dictionary ironic, because it goes from the bane of his existence to his prized possession.
The friendship of academy
Nick is shrouded in dramatic irony, because of his age. He thinks the world works one way, but then learns a secret; he thinks school is a conspiracy through which adults persecute kids for just wanting to have fun. Secretly, his teachers are his number one fans, and they push him to be all that he can be, sometimes conspiring to antagonize him, yes, but in a friendly game of academy. In the end, Mrs. Granger and Nick each contribute to the other person in meaningful ways, and it is clear that they harbor no negative emotions. They are friends, ironically.
