It is not an answer to a question, but a statement. In essence, a rhetorical question is a question to which an answer is not required or expected due to its extreme obviousness. In any case, an interrogative statement implies a well-defined, well-known answer, so a rhetorical question is, in fact, a statement expressed in an interrogative form. For example, asking a question "How long are we going to endure this injustice?" does not expect an answer, but wants to emphasize that “We tolerate injustice, and for too long” and seems to imply that “It’s time to stop tolerating it and do something about it.”.

A rhetorical question is used to enhance the expressiveness (highlight, underline) of a particular phrase. A characteristic feature of these turns is convention, that is, the use of the grammatical form and intonation of the question in cases that, in essence, do not require it.

A rhetorical question, as well as a rhetorical exclamation and a rhetorical appeal, are peculiar turns of speech that enhance its expressiveness - the so-called. figures. A distinctive feature of these turns is their conventionality, that is, the use of interrogative, exclamatory, etc. intonation in cases that essentially do not require it, due to which the phrase in which these turns are used acquires a particularly emphasized connotation that enhances its expressiveness. So, rhetorical question is, in essence, a statement expressed only in an interrogative form, due to which the answer to such a question is already known in advance, for example:

It is obvious that the meaning of these phrases is the assertion of the impossibility of returning "the dreams of faded beauty", etc.; The question is a conditional rhetorical phrase. But due to the form of the question, the author's attitude to the phenomenon in question becomes much more expressive and emotionally colored.

Rhetorical exclamation and rhetorical appeal

Rhetorical exclamation has a similar conditional character, in which the exclamatory intonation does not follow from the meaning of the word or phrase, but is arbitrarily attached to it, thereby expressing the attitude to this phenomenon, for example:

Swing! Takeoff! Shuttle, get down! Val turn around!
Drive whirlwind length! Do not be late!

Bryusov V. Ya.

Here the words “swing”, “takeoff”, as well as the words takeoff and entry, so to speak, ascertaining the movement of machines, are given with exclamations expressing the feelings with which the poet observes these machines, although in these words themselves, by their direct meaning for the exclamatory there is no reason for intonation.

In the same example, we also find a rhetorical appeal, that is, again a conditional appeal to objects that, in essence, cannot be addressed (“Shuttle, take off!” Etc.). The structure of such an appeal is the same as in a rhetorical question and a rhetorical exclamation.

Thus, all these rhetorical figures are a kind of syntactic constructions that convey a certain elation and pathos of the narration.

Examples of rhetorical questions

• "Who are the judges?" (Griboyedov, Alexander Sergeevich.)
• "Where are you galloping, proud horse, / And where will you lower your hooves?" (Pushkin.)
• "Was there a boy?" (M. Gorky, "The Life of Klim Samgin")

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Synonyms:

• Temple, Henry, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

See what "Rhetorical question" is in other dictionaries:

Rhetorical question- A rhetorical question, as well as a rhetorical exclamation and a rhetorical appeal, peculiar turns of speech that enhance its expressiveness, the so-called. figures (see). A distinctive feature of these revolutions is their convention, i.e., the use of ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

rhetorical question- noun, number of synonyms: 3 question (21) rhetorical figure (9) figure of speech (38 ... Synonym dictionary

Rhetorical question- RHETORICAL QUESTION, see Figure... Dictionary of literary terms

rhetorical question A figure of speech representing a question that is not expected to be answered. Rubric: language. Figurative expressive means Genus: figures of speech Other associative connections: rhetorical appeal Example: Do you know the Ukrainian night? (N. Gogol) ... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

rhetorical question- The same as an interrogative rhetorical sentence (used as a stylistic figure). see interrogative sentence... Dictionary of linguistic terms

rhetorical question- (from Greek rhetor speaker) stylistic figure: an interrogative sentence containing an affirmation (or denial), framed as a question that does not require an answer: Didn’t you first so viciously persecute His free, bold gift And for fun ... ... Dictionary of literary terms

rhetorical question Dictionary of linguistic terms T.V. Foal

Rhetorical question- Expressive affirmation or negation; used in popular science, journalistic, artistic styles ... Rhetoric: Dictionary Reference

rhetorical question- s. Syntactic figure 2: affirmation or negation in the form of a question; enhances the emotionality of speech and attracts the attention of the listener. What good is it that he lives? Is the life of a madman pleasant to his relatives and friends, once his ... ... Educational dictionary of stylistic terms

The most effective means of conveying ideas to the audience is to engage them in a dialogue. A lot of oratorical means have been invented for this, but each of them is good for its own situation. Anyone who dares to speak to the public should know what a rhetorical question means and how to ask it correctly.

Figures of speech and rhetoric

Without the use of beautiful and figurative speech turns, the narrative looks “empty” and difficult to understand. To add color to your unbridled stream of thoughts, you can apply tricks known to the ancient Greeks:

• Changing the order of words in a sentence characteristic of a given language;
• Contrasting one thought with another;
• The use of a similar composition at the beginning or end of several sentences. A peculiar grammatical refrain;
• The hierarchical arrangement of words in a sentence as the lexical meaning of the feature is strengthened;
• Intentional omission of a required word;
• Dot separation of words in a sentence;
• The use of words with a similar or, conversely, opposite meaning;
• Own linguistic inventions;
• The use in one context of incompatible definitions;
• Figurative "revival" of an object of inanimate nature;
• Deliberate exaggeration or understatement (most often used in satire);
• Asking questions that don't need to be answered.

Definition of figures of speech

A rhetorical question is one that is essentially a statement and does not require a response from the interlocutor. From a grammatical point of view, there is an opposition between the interrogative form and the narrative meaning of the construction.

By using this figure of speech in his text, the author implies that the answer is too simple and obvious to answer. Or, on the contrary, that it is too complicated and cannot have a monosyllabic solution. This achieves the transfer of the mood of the writer and giving the narrative an emotional coloring.

This figure is most often used in the following areas:

• Prose and poetry;
• Journalism;
• Texts on social topics;
• Politicians' speeches.

How to understand a rhetorical question?

It is not uncommon for a situation where the listener cannot grasp the essence of the speaker's verbal acrobatics.

To resolve misunderstandings, you can use the following tips:

1. Emphasize on context. It is he who plays a decisive role in understanding the meaning of the phrase. If the sentence was torn out of any literary work, you need to familiarize yourself with its content. You also need to make an adjustment for the era in which the writer or politician lived. Social injustice has often been attacked by wordsmiths;
2. Try to turn the meaning of the phrase inside out. One of the goals of statements formulated in interrogative form is to reverse the familiar situation by 180 degrees. For example: "Are we slaves?" ("We are not slaves.");
3. A significant part of rhetorical questions and exclamations have long become vivid catch phrases. Therefore, to clarify their meaning, you can refer to the dictionary of phraseological units and idioms. There you can get help not only regarding the meaning of the sentence, but also etymological data.

Can you end your essay with a rhetorical question?

The conclusion for a school essay is one of the most important elements of its composition. It draws a line under the work of the student and is the logical conclusion of his reasoning on the problem in the work. As well as the introductory part, the conclusion should not break away from the flow of the main text of the work.

Basic rules for a good essay ending:

• The number of sentences in the last paragraph should not be more than 5-6, otherwise the perception of information will be difficult;
• Ask yourself the question: is it worth agreeing with the position of the author. Conditionally break the source text into theses and think about which of them are worth supporting and which are not;
• If the student does not agree with the original text on almost all points, then it is worth restraining yourself from frantic and emotional criticism. Every assertion must be supported by reasonable arguments;
• You should try to make the ending as positive as possible;
• It is not worth repeating the ideas already stated in the essay.

One of the most effective ways to put an end to the work is a rhetorical question. He can challenge an imaginary opponent to an argument and generalize the judgment in the best possible way. It is even better if the figure is a classic aphorism related to the problematics of the text.

Rhetorical question: examples

• Interrogative-rhetorical. Their main purpose is an expressive assessment of what is happening. Thus, a person conveys his individual and emotional attitude to the subject of conversation ( “How did I forget to put money on the phone?” );
• Incentives. In essence, they have a command and imperative purpose, but have an abstract wording ( “When will you finally stop doing this?” );
• Negative. Despite their name, they lack the negative particle "not". By using this figure, the impossibility of any event or phenomenon is indicated. For example, William Shakespeare wrote: “Here was Caesar: can you wait for another?” (i.e., there will never be a person with such qualities);
• Affirmative. Unlike the previous type, on the contrary, they are designed to strengthen the affirmative message of what was said ( "How can you not love the ocean?" ).

In a sarcastic context, the original meaning of literary devices may shift somewhat. A question that is negative in form can acquire a positive meaning, and vice versa. For example: “The police are again demanding bribes. Who would have thought?".

Wording rules

Consider the basic rules for using this technique in the "field conditions":

1. Analyze all possible facts that may be relevant to the problem;
2. Examine your own and others' feelings about a particular situation;
3. Decide what exactly the average person wants or should want;
4. Consider obstacles and barriers on the way to what you want;
5. How much time is needed to implement the plan;
6. The tools you need to reach your goal.

Rhetorical questions should be built as many times as possible, but the semantic load should be high. They can be set both at the beginning of a speech (to bring the audience out of a state of rest), and at the end (to sum up what was said vividly). The positive reaction of listeners to a correctly formulated construction looks like a thoughtful silence.

How can you not know what a rhetorical question means? After all, this is not only part of the school curriculum, but also a whole layer of culture. "To be or not to be?" Shakespeare, "What is to be done?" Chernyshevsky, “Who are the judges?” Griboyedov - all these statements do not require an answer, since they in themselves make millions of people think about pressing problems.

Video about rhetorical figures

In this video, philologist Georgy Kadetov will talk about rhetorical figures and questions, syntactic strategies:

Most often, rhetorical questions are used to emphasize the significance of a statement and draw the attention of the listener or reader to a specific problem. At the same time, the use of the interrogative form is a convention, because the answer to such a question is not expected or it is too obvious.

Being one of the means of expressiveness, rhetorical questions are widely used in literary texts. For example, they were often used in the works of the Russian XIX century (“And who are the judges?”, “Who is to blame?”, “What?”). By resorting to these rhetorical figures, the writers intensified the emotional coloring of the statement, forced the readers to think about it.

Rhetorical questions have also been used in journalistic works. In them, in addition to strengthening the text, rhetorical questions help the illusion of a conversation with the reader. Often the same technique is used in speeches and lectures, highlighting key phrases and involving the audience in reflection. Listening to a monologue, a person involuntarily pays special attention to statements uttered with an interrogative intonation, so this kind of interest in the audience is very effective. Sometimes the speaker uses not one, but a series of rhetorical questions, thus focusing the attention of the audience on the most important report or lecture.

In addition to rhetorical questions, rhetorical exclamations and rhetorical appeals are used both in written and oral speech. Just as in rhetorical questions, the main role here is played by the intonation with which these phrases are pronounced. Rhetorical exclamations and appeals also refer to the means of enhancing the expressiveness of the text and convey the emotions and feelings of the author.

Related videos

An address is a word or a combination of words that names the addressee of the speech. A distinctive feature of this construction is the grammatical form of the nominative case. In addition to defining an object, animate or inanimate, an appeal may contain an evaluative characteristic and express the attitude of the speaker to the addressee. To establish the role of words naming the person to whom the speech is addressed, it is necessary to find out what features this construction can “possess”.

Most often, proper names, names of persons according to the degree of kinship, according to, position in society, position, rank, according to the relationship of people act as an appeal. Less often, animal names, names of inanimate objects or natural phenomena are used as an appeal, usually personified in the latter case. For example:
“You know, Shurochka, I have something to tell you.” In the role of address - a proper name.
- "My brother! How glad I am to see you!" Appeal names a person according to the degree of kinship.
- "Where did you take me,?" The word "ocean" is naming an inanimate object. Such constructions are used in artistic speech, making it figurative and expressive.

In oral speech, the appeal is formalized intonation. For this, different types of intonations are used.
The vocative intonation is characterized by increased stress and the presence of a pause after the address. In written speech, such intonation is a comma or an exclamation mark. (My friend, let us dedicate our souls to the homeland with wonderful impulses!)
Exclamatory intonation is usually used in a rhetorical address, naming a poetic artistic image. (Fly, memories!)
Introductory intonation is distinguished by a lowering of tone and a fast pace of pronunciation. (I'm terribly glad, Varenka, that you stopped by to see me.)

If in colloquial speech the main function of addresses is to give a name to the addressee of speech, then in fiction they perform stylistic functions and are carriers of expressive and evaluative meanings. (“Where are you going, thieves’ mug?”; “Good, beloved, we are far from each other.”)

The metaphorical nature of poetic appeals also determines the features of their syntax. For example, common and homogeneous appeals are often used in artistic speech (Hear me, good, hear me, my evening dawn, inextinguishable.) Often they give speech intimacy, special lyricism. (Are you still alive, my old lady?)

Please note that the grammatical form of the appeal coincides with the subject and application. They should not be confused: the subject and the application are members of the sentence and a question is asked to them. An appeal is a construction that is not grammatically related to other members of the sentence, therefore it does not play a syntactic role and a question is not posed to it. Compare:
"Her dreams were always romantic." The word "dreams" is the subject of the sentence.
"Dreams, dreams, where is your sweetness?" This is a syntactic construct.

Related videos

Rhetorical question- this is a figure of speech, which is a question, the answer to which is known in advance, or a question to which the answer is not required, since it is extremely obvious in advance. In other words, we can say that a rhetorical question is a statement made in an interrogative form.

A feature of such turns is convention, that is, the use of the grammatical form and intonation of the question in sentences where this is essentially not required, due to which the phrase in which these turns are used acquires a particularly emphasized shade that enhances its expressiveness.

in examples:

• “And what Russian does not like to drive fast?” N.V. Gogol
• "And what is a knight without luck?" D "Artagnan
• "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain
• "To be or not to be?" Hamlet
• "What to do?" Chernyshevsky
• “Well, when is Friday already?” Folk
• "Why is the boss stupid?" Folk
• "Why did I drink yesterday?" Folk

So why is the question called rhetorical? In fact, everything is very simple. Oratory has been popular since ancient times. Even the ancient Greeks mastered the art of speech, calling this science rhetoric (ancient Greek ῥητωρική - "oratory" from ῥήτωρ - "orator").

Similar turns of speech that enhance its expressiveness are rhetorical exclamation and rhetorical appeal. Ancient orators considered rhetorical figures as some deviations of speech from the natural norm, “ordinary and simple form”, some kind of artificial decoration. The modern vision, on the contrary, proceeds rather from the fact that figures are a natural and integral part of human speech.

It was in disputes that names were invented for various turns of speech, including rhetorical turns. After all, we already use them in everyday life without even suspecting how they are correctly called.

Often in oratory and artistic speech, expressiveness techniques are used - to attract the attention of the listener, to emphasize in speech. These are structural and semantic accents, and intonational features, and syntactic ones. One of the most common means of expression is rhetorical question.

Definition.

The rhetorical question is an interrogative construction of a sentence that conveys a certain message in the same way as a narrative one. That is, it does not require an answer to the question posed.

In a rhetorical question, there is a certain contradiction between the given syntactic form - the actual interrogative structure - and the meaning, content.

The message, which contains a rhetorical question, is associated with the desire to express certain emotions and moods, to set a specific tone. A rhetorical question implies a ready and understandable answer to the reader / listener.

Rhetorical questions are used in:

• literary texts: poetry and prose,
• journalism and media
• oratory.

Usually a rhetorical question contains a protest. For example, Alexander Griboedov in "Woe from Wit" asks the question: "And who are the judges?" - the answer to which involves the denial of the right of the protagonist's environment to judge his actions.

Examples of rhetorical questions.

In texts and speeches, questions are often used as rhetorical questions with:

• pronominal interrogative word (“And what kind of Russian does not like to drive fast?” - Nikolai Gogol),
• an interrogative particle, without special interrogative words (“I am writing to you - what more? What else can I say?” - Alexander Pushkin).

As a rule, a question mark is used at the end of a rhetorical question in a letter, less often an exclamation mark:

• Vladimir Mayakovsky: “Where, when, what great one chose the path to be more trodden and easier?”
• Alexander Pushkin: "Who hasn't cursed the stationmasters, who hasn't scolded them!"

A double sign is possible.

The role of rhetorical questions in the poem "Evening Reflection".

What does the appearance of a rhetorical question in the text mean? It presupposes the work of the reader's mind. So literary critics note the serious role of using a rhetorical question in Mikhail Lomonosov's poem "Evening Reflection":

“But where, nature, is your law?” - the answer is supposed to be that it is not.
“Dawn rises from the midnight countries!
Doesn't the sun set its throne there?" - the sun always rises in the morning and this is obvious, no answer is required.

"How can it be that the frozen steam
In the middle of winter, a fire was born? - it is assumed that this can not be.
“The ignorant creatures are the end of you?
Tell me, how great is the creator? - here one can see the ideology of deism inherent in Lomonosov.