Rhetorical question

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply.^[1] Rhetorical questions encourage the listener to think about what the (often obvious) answer to the question must be. When a speaker states, "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?", no formal answer is expected. Rather, it is a rhetorical device used by the speaker to assert or deny something (e.g., "Can you do anything right?"). 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.^[2]

Forms

Negative assertion

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? (Monty Python's Life of Brian) 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? (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?

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.^{[citation needed]}

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?, Is the Pope Catholic? and Does a bear shit in the woods?^[3][4][5]

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)

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?^{[citation needed]}

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 hell?"

Grammar

Depending on the context, a rhetorical question may be punctuated by a question mark (?), full stop (.), or exclamation mark (!),^[6] but it is generally best to use a question mark for any question, rhetorical or not.^[7]

Rhetorical questions may be signaled by marker phrases; questions that include "after all", or "by any chance" may be intended as rhetorical.^[8]

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." ^[9]

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.^[10]

Some have adapted the question mark into various irony marks, but these are very rarely seen.^{[citation needed]}

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." ^[11]

"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." ^[12]

See also

• Aporia
• Hypothetical question

Notes

1. ^ Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University. "Rhetorical Questions". specialized language definitions. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/R/rhetorical%20questions.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-19. 
2. ^ "Rhetorical Questions". The Library of Rhetoric. http://libraryofrhetoric.org/lor/?page_id=836. 
3. ^ Powell, Chris; Paton, George E. C. (1988). Humour in society: resistance and control. Macmillan. p. 67. ISBN 0333440706. 
4. ^ Moon, Rosamund (1998). Fixed expressions and idioms in English: a corpus-based approach (Oxford studies in lexicography and lexicology). Oxford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 019823614X. 
5. ^ Fergusson, Rosalind; Partridge, Eric (1994). Shorter dictionary of catch phrases. Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 0415100518. 
6. ^ http://www.whitesmoke.com/punctuation-question-mark.html#rhe Whitesmoke
7. ^ http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/question.htm
8. ^ Javier Gutiérrez Rexach, "Rhetorical Questions, Relevance and Scales", University of Ohio, 1998
9. ^ 6.126 and 6.56 Chicago Manual of Style 15th ed. 2003, University of Chicago Press.
10. ^ Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, 2003. p. 142. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
11. ^ Gardiner, J (1907). "Manual of Composition and Rhetoric". Ginn & Company. http://www.worldcat.org/title/manual-of-composition-and-rhetoric/oclc/1926080&referer=brief_results. Retrieved 23 April 2011. 
12. ^ Boyd, Boyd (1997). Electronic Discourse: Linguistics Individuals in Virtual Space. Albany: State University of New York Press. http://www.worldcat.org/title/electronic-discourse-linguistic-individuals-in-virtual-space/oclc/42636887&referer=brief_results. 

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. http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/rhetorical.html. 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. http://www.psyc.memphis.edu/faculty/kreuz/KAB02.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-27.