Which sentences in this excerpt from mark twain’s “the danger of lying in bed” are examples of verbal irony? san francisco is one-eighth as populous as new york; there are 60 deaths a week in the former and 500 a week in the latter—if they have luck. that is 3,120 deaths a year in san francisco, and eight times as many in new york—say about 25,000 or 26,000. the health of the two places is the same. so we will let it stand as a fair presumption that this will hold good all over the country, and that consequently 25,000 out of every million of people we have must die every year. that amounts to one-fortieth of our total population. one million of us, then, die annually. out of this million ten or twelve thousand are stabbed, shot, drowned, hanged, poisoned, or meet a similarly violent death in some other popular way, such as perishing by kerosene-lamp and hoop-skirt conflagrations, getting buried in coal-mines, falling off house-tops, breaking through church, or lecture-room floors, taking patent medicines, or committing suicide in other forms. the erie railroad kills 23 to 46; the other 845 railroads kill an average of one-third of a man each; and the rest of that million, amounting in the aggregate to that appalling figure of 987,631 corpses, die naturally in their beds! you will excuse me from taking any more chances on those beds. the railroads are good enough for me. and my advice to all people is, don't stay at home any more than you can ; but when you have got to stay at home a while, buy a package of those insurance tickets and sit up nights. you cannot be too cautious.

The sentences in the above excerpt from Mark Twain’s “The Danger of Lying in Bed” which are examples of verbal irony are:

“San Francisco is one-eighth as populous as New York; there are 60 deaths a week in the former and 500 a week in the latter—if they have luck.”

“That is 3,120 deaths a year in San Francisco, and eight times as many in New York—say about 25,000 or 26,000. The health of the two places is the same.” 

“Don't stay at home any more than you can help; but when you have GOT to stay at home a while, buy a package of those insurance tickets and sit up nights.”

The irony is the statement which has the meaning opposite to what is said literally. It creates humor. When words expressed reflects on to the opposite meaning of what is been said, the irony is termed verbal irony. In the above sentences, the author gives an ironical statement in order to present the importance of living in a comical way.

answer

answer: a: they can affect the author’s perspective and in turn the theme and purpose for the writing.

the author's background and time period greatly affect the text that the author produces. this is because we are all a reflection of our time period and background. depending on where and when we were born, we will find some questions more important than others. for example, if we are a wealthy person born in medieval times, we will most likely be interested in courtly love and stories of knights and honour. however, if we are born in the 20th century in africa, we might instead focus on colonialism and its effects on the newly liberated countries. the theme and the purpose of writing are both affected by these conditions.

explanation: