Ch excerpt from act i of the importance of being earnest. is an understatement?
“i am always telling that to your poor uncle, but he never seems to take much notice . . as far as any improvement in his ailment goes.”
“well, really, gwendolen, i must say that i think there are lots of other much nicer names.”
“gwendolen, i must get christened at once—i mean we must get married at once. there is no time to be lost.”
“you know that i love you, and you led me to believe, miss fairfax, that you were not absolutely indifferent to me.”

“You know that I love you, and you led me to believe, Miss Fairfax, that you were not absolutely indifferent to me.”

The phrase "not absolutely indifferent" is an understatement. An understatement is a rhetorical device that contains a phrase of lesser strength than what would normally be expected. Understatement is used for emphasis and irony. In this case, the speaker wants to express that Miss Fairfax loves him, or at least is fond of him. Therefore, describing this as "not absolutely indifferent" is an understatement.

today we'd use social media to quickly spread a controversial idea, but in the eighteenth century, the printed pamphlet was highly effective. and thomas paine took full advantage of it. on january 9, 1776, when paine published his pamphlet, "common sense," he wanted to push the american people toward independence from britain. it ultimately ignite the american revolution. thomas paine argued that the monarchy was evil and should be rejected as a form of government. to underscore his point, he cited the bible to argue his case -- in judges 8: 22-23: "the israelites said to gideon, 'rule over us, you and your son and your ' gideon told them, 'i will not rule over you. the lord will rule over you'" (nrsv).

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