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A rhetorical question is one for which the questioner does not expect a direct answer: in many cases it may be intended to start a discourse, or as a means of displaying or emphasize the speaker's or author's opinion on a topic. 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 ability but rather to insinuate the listener's lack of ability.


Forms


Negative assertions

A rhetorical question may be intended as a challenge. The question is often difficult or impossible to answer. In the example, ''What have the Romans ever done for us?'' ('' Monty Python's Life of Brian'') the question functions as a negative assertion. It is intended to mean ''The Romans have never done anything for us!''. When Shakespeare's
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...
exclaims: ''Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?'' it functions as an assertion that Caesar possesses such rare qualities they may never be seen again. (''
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
'', Act 3, scene 2, 257) Negative assertions may function as positives in sarcastic contexts. For example, in ''Smoking can lead to lung cancer. Who knew?!'' the question functions as an assertion that the truth of the statement should have been utterly obvious.


Metaphors

Rhetorical questions are often used as a
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
for a question already asked. Examples may be found in the song " Maria" from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, ''
The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...
'', in which "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" is repeatedly answered with other questions: "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 assert that a problem like Maria cannot be solved. In the vernacular, this form of rhetorical question is called "rhetorical affirmation". 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 "Do bears shit in the woods?", "Is the sky blue?" and "Is the Pope Catholic?"


Punctuation

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. In the 1580s, English printer Henry Denham invented a " rhetorical question mark" (⸮) for use at the end of a rhetorical question; however, it fell 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 In the branch of linguistics known as pragmatics, a presupposition (or PSP) is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include ...
* Double-barreled question * Loaded question * Implicature * Performative contradiction *
Betteridge's law of headlines Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ''no''." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist who wrote about it in 2009, although the princ ...


Notes


External links


What is a rhetorical question?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhetorical Question Pragmatics Rhetorical techniques Types of question