Difference between revisions of "Rhetorical question"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m |
GregLarson (talk | contribs) m (links) |
||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
*"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> | *"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> | ||
*"You all did see that on the Lupercal/I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"<ref>Shakespeare, William, ''The Life and Death of Julius Caesar", Act III, Scene 2</ref> | *"You all did see that on the Lupercal/I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"<ref>Shakespeare, William, ''The Life and Death of Julius Caesar", Act III, Scene 2</ref> | ||
| − | *"Are you aware that the candidate is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert?"<ref>George Smathers, campaigning against Claude Pepper in the 1950s (attributed)</ref> | + | *"Are you aware that the candidate is known all over [[Washington]] as a shameless extrovert?"<ref>George Smathers, campaigning against Claude Pepper in the 1950s (attributed)</ref> |
==Notes and references== | ==Notes and references== | ||
Revision as of 03:22, November 2, 2007
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?"[1]
- "You all did see that on the Lupercal/I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"[2]
- "Are you aware that the candidate is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert?"[3]