A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in
order to make a point.
The question, a rhetorical device, is posed not to elicit a specific answer, but rather
to encourage the listener to consider a message or viewpoint.
Though classically stated as a proper question, such a device may be posed declaratively by
implying a question, and therefore may not always require a question mark when written.
Though a rhetorical question does not require a direct answer, in many cases it may be intended
to start a discussion or at least draw an acknowledgement that the listener understands
the intended message.
A common example is the question "Can't you do anything right?".
This question, when posed, is intended not to ask about the listener's abilities, but
rather to insinuate a lack of the listener's abilities.
Although 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.
In simple terms, it is a question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.
Different forms Negative assertions
Often a rhetorical question is intended as a challenge, with the implication that the
question is difficult or impossible to answer.
Therefore the question functions as a negative assertion.
For example, What have the Romans ever done for us? should be read as The Romans have
never done anything for us.
Similarly, when Shakespeare lets Mark Antony exclaim: Here was a Caesar!
when comes such another?, 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?!"
Rhetorical questions as 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 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical,
The 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 "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
Is the sky blue? and Is the Pope Catholic?
Other forms Sometimes the implied answer to a rhetorical
question is "Yes, but I wish it were not so" or vice versa:
O mighty Caesar!
dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?
(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, III.i.148)
Similarly in the Bob Dylan song Blowin' in the Wind, the rhetorical question is asked,
"And how many deaths will it take till we know, that too many people have died?"
Another common form is the expression of doubt by questioning a statement just made; for
example, by appending the following to a sentence: or did he?, or is it?, etc.
The butler did it... or did he?
It is also common to use a rhetorical question to bring an end to a debate or to finalize
a decision.
For example, when internally deciding whether to perform an action, one may shove aside
the dialogue with a simple, "Eh, why not?" or "What the heck?"
• Grammar • Depending on the context, a rhetorical question may be punctuated by
a question mark, full stop, or exclamation mark, but some sources argue that it is required
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 Henry Denham invented a "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."
See also Aporia
Hypothetical question Suggestive question
Complex question Presupposition
Double-barreled question Loaded question
Implicature Performative contradiction
Notes
External links What is a rhetorical question?
Audio illustrations of the rhetorical question A short definition of the term
Paul Brians, Washington State University.
"Common Errors in English".
Grammatical Errors in the English Language.
Retrieved 2007-10-19.
Roger Kruez, Aaron Ashley, and Kathryn Bartlett, University of Memphis.
"Twisting Arms: Figurative Language Effects in Persuasive Discourse".
psychology research paper.
Retrieved 2008-03-27.