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A '''rhetorical question''' is a [[figure of speech]] in the form of a [[question]] that is asked in order to make a [[point]] and without the [[expectation]] of a reply. The question is used as a rhetorical device, posed for the sake of [[encouraging]] its [[listener]] to consider a message or [[viewpoint]]. Though these are technically questions, they do not always require a question mark.
For example, the question "Can't you do anything right?" is asked not to gain [[information]] about the [[ability]] of the person being spoken to, but rather to insinuate that the person always fails.
While sometimes amusing and even [[humorous]], rhetorical questions are rarely meant for [[pure]], comedic effect. A carefully crafted question can, if delivered well, persuade an [[audience]] to believe in the position(s) of the speaker.
==Forms==
*Negative Assertions
Often a ''rhetorical question'' is intended as a [[challenge]], with the implication that the [[question]] is difficult or impossible to answer. Thus the [[question]] functions as a negative assertion. For example, ''What have the Romans ever done for us''? (''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Life_of_Brian Monty Python's Life of Brian]'') should be read as The Romans have never done anything for us. Similarly, when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare Shakespeare] lets [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Antony Mark Antony] exclaim: ''Here was a Caesar! when comes such another''? (Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 2, 257), it [[functions]] as an assertion that Caesar possessed rare [[qualities]] that may not be seen again for a long time, if ever.
Such [[negative]] assertions may [[function]] as positives in [[sarcastic]] [[contexts]]. For example, when a speaker repeats a [[statement]] reported to have been found true and adds a sarcastic Who knew?, the question functions as an assertion that the [[truth]] of the preceding statement was – or should have been – already utterly obvious: Smoking can lead to lung cancer. Who knew?
*Metaphors
One common form is where a ''rhetorical question'' is used as a [[metaphor]] for a question already asked. Examples may be found in the song Maria from the 1959 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein] musical, The ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music Sound of Music]'', in which the How do you solve a [[problem]] like Maria? is repeatedly answered with another question: How do you catch a [[cloud]] and pin it down?, How do you keep a [[wave]] upon the sand? and How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? These responses may be taken as asserting that "the problem of Maria" cannot be solved; and furthermore the [[choice]] of cloud, wave and moonbeam as [[metaphors]] for Maria give [[insight]] into her [[character]] and the [[nature]] of the problem.
In the [[vernacular]], this form of ''rhetorical question'' is most often seen as rhetorical affirmation, where the [[certainty]] or obviousness of the answer to a question is [[expressed]] by asking another, often humorous, question for which the answer is equally obvious; popular examples include ''Is the [[sky]] blue''? and ''Is the Pope Catholic''?
*Grammar
Depending on the [[context]], a ''rhetorical question'' may be punctuated by a question mark (?), full stop (.), or exclamation mark (!), but it is generally best to use a question mark for any question, rhetorical or not.
Rhetorical questions may be signaled by marker phrases; [[questions]] that include "after all", or "by any [[chance]]" may be intended as rhetorical.
Written lists of rhetorical questions within a sentence require question marks, but do not require quotation marks. "Would he? Could he? Should he? she asked."
In the 1580s, English printer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Denham Henry Denham] invented a "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question_mark rhetorical question mark]" for use at the end of a rhetorical question; however, it died out of use in the 17th century. It was the reverse of an ordinary question mark, so that instead of the main opening pointing back into the sentence, it opened away from it.
*Quotes
"The effectiveness of rhetorical questions in [[argument]] comes from their [[dramatic]] [[quality]]. They suggest [[dialogue]], especially when the speaker both asks and answers them himself, as if he were playing two parts on the [[stage]]. They are not always impassioned; they may be mildly [[ironical]] or merely argumentative: but they are always to some extent dramatic, and, if used to excess, they tend to give one’s style a theatrical air."
"Rhetorical questioning is…a fairly [[conscious]] technique adopted by a speaker for deliberate ends, and it is used infrequently, [[proportional]] to the length of the [[dialogue]], oration, or conversation." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question]
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
A '''rhetorical question''' is a [[figure of speech]] in the form of a [[question]] that is asked in order to make a [[point]] and without the [[expectation]] of a reply. The question is used as a rhetorical device, posed for the sake of [[encouraging]] its [[listener]] to consider a message or [[viewpoint]]. Though these are technically questions, they do not always require a question mark.
For example, the question "Can't you do anything right?" is asked not to gain [[information]] about the [[ability]] of the person being spoken to, but rather to insinuate that the person always fails.
While sometimes amusing and even [[humorous]], rhetorical questions are rarely meant for [[pure]], comedic effect. A carefully crafted question can, if delivered well, persuade an [[audience]] to believe in the position(s) of the speaker.
==Forms==
*Negative Assertions
Often a ''rhetorical question'' is intended as a [[challenge]], with the implication that the [[question]] is difficult or impossible to answer. Thus the [[question]] functions as a negative assertion. For example, ''What have the Romans ever done for us''? (''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Life_of_Brian Monty Python's Life of Brian]'') should be read as The Romans have never done anything for us. Similarly, when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare Shakespeare] lets [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Antony Mark Antony] exclaim: ''Here was a Caesar! when comes such another''? (Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 2, 257), it [[functions]] as an assertion that Caesar possessed rare [[qualities]] that may not be seen again for a long time, if ever.
Such [[negative]] assertions may [[function]] as positives in [[sarcastic]] [[contexts]]. For example, when a speaker repeats a [[statement]] reported to have been found true and adds a sarcastic Who knew?, the question functions as an assertion that the [[truth]] of the preceding statement was – or should have been – already utterly obvious: Smoking can lead to lung cancer. Who knew?
*Metaphors
One common form is where a ''rhetorical question'' is used as a [[metaphor]] for a question already asked. Examples may be found in the song Maria from the 1959 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein] musical, The ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music Sound of Music]'', in which the How do you solve a [[problem]] like Maria? is repeatedly answered with another question: How do you catch a [[cloud]] and pin it down?, How do you keep a [[wave]] upon the sand? and How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? These responses may be taken as asserting that "the problem of Maria" cannot be solved; and furthermore the [[choice]] of cloud, wave and moonbeam as [[metaphors]] for Maria give [[insight]] into her [[character]] and the [[nature]] of the problem.
In the [[vernacular]], this form of ''rhetorical question'' is most often seen as rhetorical affirmation, where the [[certainty]] or obviousness of the answer to a question is [[expressed]] by asking another, often humorous, question for which the answer is equally obvious; popular examples include ''Is the [[sky]] blue''? and ''Is the Pope Catholic''?
*Grammar
Depending on the [[context]], a ''rhetorical question'' may be punctuated by a question mark (?), full stop (.), or exclamation mark (!), but it is generally best to use a question mark for any question, rhetorical or not.
Rhetorical questions may be signaled by marker phrases; [[questions]] that include "after all", or "by any [[chance]]" may be intended as rhetorical.
Written lists of rhetorical questions within a sentence require question marks, but do not require quotation marks. "Would he? Could he? Should he? she asked."
In the 1580s, English printer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Denham Henry Denham] invented a "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question_mark rhetorical question mark]" for use at the end of a rhetorical question; however, it died out of use in the 17th century. It was the reverse of an ordinary question mark, so that instead of the main opening pointing back into the sentence, it opened away from it.
*Quotes
"The effectiveness of rhetorical questions in [[argument]] comes from their [[dramatic]] [[quality]]. They suggest [[dialogue]], especially when the speaker both asks and answers them himself, as if he were playing two parts on the [[stage]]. They are not always impassioned; they may be mildly [[ironical]] or merely argumentative: but they are always to some extent dramatic, and, if used to excess, they tend to give one’s style a theatrical air."
"Rhetorical questioning is…a fairly [[conscious]] technique adopted by a speaker for deliberate ends, and it is used infrequently, [[proportional]] to the length of the [[dialogue]], oration, or conversation." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question]
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
