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A '''rhetorical question''' is a statement that is phrased in the form of a question, but for which the speaker expects no answer. Either the speaker expects to answer the question himself, or believes that only one answer is possible. A true question engages the listener's attention by requiring listener to think of an answer. A rhetorical question is a manipulative technique which seeks to gain the listener's attention by posing as a question, even though the speaker is not interested in getting an answer and does not intend to conduct a dialog.
A '''rhetorical question''' is a statement that is phrased in the form of a question, but for which the speaker expects no answer. Either the speaker expects to answer the question himself, or believes that only one answer is possible. A true question engages the listener's attention by requiring listener to think of an answer. A rhetorical question is a manipulative technique which seeks to gain the listener's attention by posing as a question, even though the speaker is not interested in getting an answer and does not intend to conduct a dialog.
Examples of rhetorical questions:
*"Would you like to swing on a star/Carry moonbeams home in a jar/And be better off than you are/Or would you rather be a mule?"<ref>Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, "Swinging on a Star," 1944</ref>
==Notes and references==
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