"The number of souls in Ireland being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couples whose wives are breeders, from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples, who are able to maintain their own children..."

Why does Swift include these sorts of "facts and statistics" in his essay?

a. to make his use of verbal irony more effective.
b. to reinforce his stated arguments.
c. to head off opposition to his stated arguments.
d. to demonstrate that he is well-educated.

C and D do not make any sense so those are not the an

Question

"The number of souls in Ireland being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couples whose wives are breeders, from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples, who are able to maintain their own children..."

Why does Swift include these sorts of "facts and statistics" in his essay?

a. to make his use of verbal irony more effective.
b. to reinforce his stated arguments.
c. to head off opposition to his stated arguments.
d. to demonstrate that he is well-educated.

C and D do not make any sense so those are not the an

anonymous · Answer

answers. It is either A or B. I am thinking it is A because B does not seem to fit.

e.mccormick · Answer

Well, it comes down to which goal the author had in mind as his primary goal.  Is it the irony or the stated argument?  Obviously facts and virgules give weight to the essay.  So what is the real intent of the essay becomes the key to the answer.