Which statement contains an ironic use of understatement?
a) the boys were so exhausted after the long flight that they slept for hours.
b) we watched the different floats of the parade pass by for what seemed like an eternity.
c) i studied so hard for the test, i almost memorized the information written on my note cards.
eliminate
d) the pilot called flying from one side of the atlantic to the other a simple task of "puddle jumping."

Answer:

The statement which contains an ironic use of understatement is: The pilot called flying from one side of the Atlantic to the other a simple task of "puddle jumping." So, the right answer over here is Option D.

Explanation:

When an author or a writer wants to make a situation seem less important or significant  than it truly is then he/she makes an understatement. This figure of speech offers an ironic  effect to a statement and results in saying something opposite than what is expected. In this  statement mentioned above, the Atlantic ocean is ironically described as a puddle but it  actually means that the Atlantic ocean is gigantic.

according to the options stated, the one that is correct is the second option. the author most likely includes the panel to hint at the strong bonds among his family members. besides, the image from art spiegelman’s maus is common to show and portray the innocence and naivete of the children during the holocaust as well as the fact that millions of innocent jews were rounded up and taken by train to camps.

the sentence does not violate the phrase structure second rule (introduced by noam chomsky) because noun phrases consist of a determiner such as a, the or every, and a noun. in the sentence, the noun phrase the cake includes a determiner (the) and a noun (cake).

on the other hand, the first rule indicates that a sentence encloses a noun phrase, followed by a verb phrase. the example sentence can be analysed as follows:

john (n) + ate (v) + the (det) + cake (n).