Which statement best describes Swift’s use of rhetorical devices in this passage?
A. Swift uses understatement when he says that Irish boys get “continual exercise”; the boys must endure hard labor on farms.
B. Swift uses understatement when he calls his friend “so deserving a patriot”; his friend is much more patriotic than Swift suggests.
C. Swift uses verbal irony when he calls his friend a “patriot”; a true patriot would not suggest using Ireland’s children for food.
D. Swift uses verbal irony when he says that Irish school boys get a lot of exercise; in reality, they do not get much exercise.