Question

review the passage. the verbal irony is shown in bold.
mr. john dashwood did not have the strong feelings of the rest of the family... but he promised to do everything in his power to make his sisters comfortable. his father was relaxed by such a promise, and mr. john dashwood had then leisure to consider how much there might wisely be in his power to do for them.
he was not an unpleasant young man, unless to be rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be unpleasant, but he was, in general, well respected, since he conducted himself with manners in the discharge of his ordinary duties.
adapted from jane austen, sense and sensibility
what is the effect of the verbal irony on the passages meaning or tone?
it suggests john dashwood is more considerate than people think.
it implies other people do not like john dashwood.
it suggests john dashwood is not as nice as he appears.

Explanation:

The bolded sentence uses verbal irony. It says he's not unpleasant unless being cold - hearted and selfish is unpleasant. Cold - hearted and selfish are negative traits. So the irony here is that by saying he's not unpleasant while listing negative traits, it's suggesting that he's not as nice as he seems (since he has those negative traits but is said to be not unpleasant). The first option is wrong as the irony shows he's less considerate. The second option is wrong as the passage says he's well - respected.

Answer:

It suggests John Dashwood is not as nice as he appears.