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

• Varying Your Sentence Structure and Vocabulary

  • Adding random rhetorical questions will sound strange, but if you ask the right question at the right time, it will make the reader think.
  • Interrogatives: When used sparingly, questions can catch your reader's attention.
  • They also implicate your reader as a participant in your argument by asking them to think about how they would answer the 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.

• 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.

• Modes of Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

  • Careful rhetoric, or the art of crafting arguments through tone and presentation of evidence, can make your argument more convincing.
  • A rhetorical analysis calls upon readers to closely read a text and determine several characteristics about it, including author, context, purpose, and emotional appeal and/or effects.
  • What might be in the jury's mind that you need to address so that they won't go into deliberation with questions or doubts?
  • Using appropriate rhetorical tools and a well-thought-out argumentative structure is a way of ensuring the strength of your writing.
  • In addition, rhetoric gives you ways of capturing the attention of your audience and leading them to the conclusions of your argument.

• Reading Carefully and Closely

  • If you're closely reading a novel, here are some questions that might inform your reading: What is the author trying to do?
  • What follows is a list of questions commonly asked in close reading.
  • These questions are guidelines and suggestions, not a checklist of things you must ask about everything you read.
  • Which rhetorical appeals does the author use to make his argument?
  • When considering these questions, it is good practice to end by asking, "And why?

• Turning Your Claim Into a Thesis Statement

  • A thesis statement must contain the question you are addressing, the answer you propose, and proof that it is important to your readers.
  • You have considered the question you want to address, the solution you have for it, and what the stakes are.
  • This structure includes information on what you are studying (the question), what you want to prove (the solution), and what you hope to change or prevent (the stakes, or consequences, of your argument).
  • Thesis statements do not need impressive rhetoric or copious detail.

• Discussing Writing in Class

  • In order to get the most out of class discussion, the instructor and all students should engage in an actual conversation, not simply question-and-answer.
  • When presenting a question to a class of students, teachers open up the classroom discussion to different ideas, opinions, and questions, and can mediate while students come up with their own conclusions.
  • Here are some questions that might be helpful for class discussions about student writing:
  • Where does the author present rhetoric that is based on emotion?

• Refuting Your Opposition

  • It may be in the form of a question or statement.
  • You could phrase it as a statement, as opposed to a question.
  • Colorful language, appeals to emotion, and rhetorical devices hold little weight against a clearly fleshed-out position supported by appropriate examples and solid evidence offered by reputable sources.