rhetorical question

Examples of rhetorical question in the following topics:

• Introducing Objections Informally

  • Here's an example of introducing objections with rhetorical questions: "Who would not consider a queen – the mother of future kings, and a woman who can enable her husband to assume the throne – a political entity?
  • Argument is appropriate when we seek understanding or agreement, when we want to solve a problem or answer a question, and when we want others to act or think in ways we deem beneficial, suitable, or necessary.
  • A writer can introduce these viewpoints with informal devices such as rhetorical questions and conditional statements.
  • For example, if a writer wants to acknowledge a common concern that raising state sales taxes may hurt commerce, the writer could use a rhetorical question: "Isn't it possible that consumers might shop in neighboring states to avoid our high sales tax?"
  • Use rhetorical questions or conditional statements to informally introduce an objection

• Questions and Answers

  • While this method communicates the message, it can often leave the reader with unanswered questions.
  • The question and answer format (Q & A) presents a series of questions and answers that provides all the pertinent information that the reader needs.
  • The writer essentially asks and answers the question.
  • With rhetorical awareness, the focus of communication shifted from simply reproducing forms, templates, and documents to thinking about what the writer wants to accomplish with the document.
  • Describe the purpose of the question and answer (Q&A) format in business writing

• Choosing Clear Words and Phrasing

  • What question does your speech address?
  • My speech isn't even answering a question.
  • Here's the thing: your speech actually is answering a question, that question being, "Why should you invest in my business?
  • Set the parameters for your rhetoric for your audience.
  • When you delimited your question, were there any key words used in that question?

• Raising the Stakes of Your Argument

  • Learn how to make your argument more meaningful by connecting it to larger social, philosophical, or political questions.
  • Pathos: If you still question the results of these trials, take a moment for this thought experiment.
  • How does the "larger question" connect to your specific project?
  • However, the way you choose to link your argument to larger questions must make sense.
  • Taking your writing public requires that your writing possess rhetorical features and argumentative structures expected of published material.

• [PF content: Political Rhetoric]

• Maximize Understanding

  • To maximize understanding, use general rhetorical strategies and other approaches that build upon the audience's prior experiences.
  • Here we are concerned with how you might use different rhetorical strategies to maximize what the audience understands.
  • Questioning: Question your audience to see if they understand what you are saying, and adjust your explanation in order to clarify misunderstandings.
  • Use your skills of restating, questioning, perspective-taking, and paraphrasing to help clarify and reinforce understanding as you speak.

• History of Public Speaking

  • Aspasia of Miletus (469 BCE), the "mother of rhetoric," is believed to have taught rhetoric to Socrates.
  • Plato defined the scope of rhetoric according to his negative opinions of the art.
  • Leading rhetorical theorists included John Quincy Adams, who advocated for the democratic advancement of the art of rhetoric.
  • Throughout the 20th century, rhetoric developed as a concentrated field of study with the establishment of rhetorical courses in high schools and universities.
  • Communication departments had professors who studied and taught classical rhetoric, contemporary rhetoric, along with empirical and qualitative social science.

• Principles of Writing in the Sciences

  • Scientific writing has two goals: to inform the reader of new developments in a specific field, and to address existing questions with new evidence.
  • Scientific research papers report new discoveries, applying evidence to answer questions and identify patterns.
  • For example, in an environmental-science lab report, a student might analyze research results to address or clarify a particular scientific development or question:
  • This is not the time or place for flashy vocabulary words or rhetorical flourishes.
  • The importance of objectivity in the sciences limits writers' ability to use persuasive rhetoric.

• Using Satire to Summarize

  • After engaging in a critical analysis or reading of your intended artifact, text, or given source, the next step in the process of completing an effective rhetorical analysis is to discuss the discoveries.
  • For the purposes of writing, when we refer to rhetoric, we often talk about it as the art of persuasion or the ability to communicate effectively.
  • While the rhetorical strategies for effective communication are discussed in terms of writing about your findings, pertaining to your rhetorical analysis, it should be noted that these rhetorical strategies can be employed during the critical analysis or reading portion of your rhetorical analysis project.
  • One popular rhetorical device is irony, or language that signals a meaning that opposes its own literal meaning, often through tone or context.

• Classical Greek Philosophy

  • Athens was a center of learning, with sophists and philosophers traveling from across Greece to teach rhetoric, astronomy, cosmology, geometry, and the like.
  • Socrates is said to have pursued this probing question-and-answer style of examination on a number of topics, usually attempting to arrive at a defensible and attractive definition of a virtue.
  • While Socrates' recorded conversations rarely provide a definitive answer to the question under examination, several maxims or paradoxes for which he has become known recur.
  • Socrates also questioned the Sophistic doctrine that arete (virtue) can be taught.
  • Aristotle moved to Athens from his native Stageira in 367 BCE, and began to study philosophy, and perhaps even rhetoric, under Isocrates.