Read the excerpt from "A Modest Proposal.” Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission, be a loss to the publick, because they soon would become breeders themselves: And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty, which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well soever intended. Which phrase from the excerpt is an example of verbal irony?
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strongest objection againstThe speaker says criticism of the proposal as cruel would be “indeed very unjustly,” even though the proposal involves treating people as livestock. That contradiction between his words and the disturbing reality is verbal irony. “Indeed very unjustly” is the phrase that reveals the speaker’s ironic tone.
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