RHETORICAL QUESTION
Have you ever wondered on the effect a rhetorical question has on your writing?
Employing the rhetorical question in writing is one sure way of making your writing interactive and interesting.
The rhetorical question is a literary device used for persuasion both in writing and speeches.
This question doesn’t require a direct answer but it forces your readers to think upon what you have written.
It calls their attention to the point you are trying to make.
It draws them into your own world to perceive how you view the particular subject matter you’re writing on.
And just like any other question, the rhetorical question ends with a question mark.
Though it is occasionally used, it is very powerful and it is often underutilised.
When we include it in our art of writing, it helps create a dramatic effect which helps make our writing more interactive and interesting.
Because it’s a question, it leaves a suspense in the mind of the reader and this drives them to continue to read because they want to find out what point it is that you are trying to make.
So, this tells you that one of the benefits of using the rhetorical question is that it helps drive your points into your readers’ mind: it nails it into their minds.
This persuasive devise helps shape your readers way of thinking over the particular subject matter you’re writing on.
Making use of the rhetorical question in writing is effective.
You know why?
Because it helps reveal the unknown; it helps you influence your readers in a subtle manner; and it helps you pass across your point or message to them.
And in which type of writing do we use the rhetorical question?
Well, there are no restrictions.
It can be used in most types of writing.
Now, let’s talk about when to use them in most types of writing.
You use them when you are trying to paint the type of mindset you have about about the world around you and beyond you.
An example is:
What will become of this country?
Most times, this statement is not made because you need an answer but because you have looked at the way things are and decided to express your view by using a rhetorical question.
Without having to say it with your whole mouth, you have expressed that you’re perturbed with the way things are in this country.
We also use the rhetorical question when we engage our readers in a common experience by using it with an already planned answer.
Let me further explain.
Say you’re a Maths teacher and you want to communicate to people that you’re good at teaching Maths, you can say:
So you have troubles with your Maths? Brainy tutor is your solution.
Sounds like what is used in advertising, right?
Well, you’re correct.
This is commonly used in advertising.
It helps communicate to the audience that you know their problem and the very best solution to it.
We also make use of the rhetorical question when we are asked a question with a very obviously unambiguous answer.
We use this very often in our day to day conversations and here in Nigeria, it can sometimes sound offensive because of how we are culturally wired.
- Is your phone brand new? Does it look old?
- Are you busy? Do I look like somebody that is not?
- Are you angry? Am I smiling?
- Is she crying? Does it look like she is laughing?
And lastly, when do we use the rhetorical question?
We use it when we want to provoke our readers to arrive at their own conclusions on a particular subject matter and impact them greatly with what they have read.
And this use is also very common in poetry or speeches.
In motivational talks and writings, we use it to provoke actions in our listeners and readers. This helps them boost their self morale to act and do.
Having heard this, are you willing to make the necessary changes?
Are you willing to put in the effort?
Are you ready to make hay while the sun shines?
Are you ready to train yourself to be diligent?
We also use it to catch the audience attention at the beginning of our writing or speeches.
Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law? Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms? Or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together?”
-Barack Obama
In poetry, we use it to provoke the readers thoughts and draw emotions from them.
Must I weep for goats and cowries
For palm oil and sprinkled ask?
-Wole Soyinka’s "Abiku"
“If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
-William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
-Langston Hughes' “Harlem”
Rhetorical questions are very useful in persuasive writing, persuasive speeches and in poetry.
The rhetorical question is a magnet that attracts the audience to what you have written or what you have said.
It arouses their interests.
It draws out their ability to think and reason logically.
It makes them curious readers and listeners.
I encourage you to employ it more when writing because it makes your writing more conversational, interesting and interactive.
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