Unit Test Answers

2 verified answers

How does the title of "A Modest Proposal” indicate that Swift is writing a satire?

Readers know that Swift is being serious because he humbly says that his proposal is “modest.”

Swift does not mean what he says when he calls his proposal “modest” or moderate; his proposal is actually extreme.

Swift calls his work a “proposal,” but readers do not know if the proposal will be approved by the Irish parliament.

Which statement best explains Swift’s use of rhetorical devices in this passage?

Swift uses verbal irony when he mentions objections to his plan in order to prove that no one could possibly object to the proposal.

Swift uses verbal irony when he says his plan is “a little bordering upon cruelty” because his plan is not at all cruel.

Swift uses understatement and irony when he says his plan is “a little bordering on cruelty” to highlight how cruel the plan really is.

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