select the verbal irony in the passage. mr. john dashwood did not have the strong feelings of the rest of…

select the verbal irony in the passage. 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

select the verbal irony in the passage. 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

Answer

Brief Explanations:

Verbal irony occurs when words express something contrary to the intended meaning. Here, "He was not an unpleasant young man, unless to be rather cold - hearted and rather selfish is to be unpleasant" is ironic because being cold - hearted and selfish are generally considered unpleasant traits, yet the statement downplays this.

Answer:

"He was not an unpleasant young man, unless to be rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be unpleasant"