Rhetorical Question Examples
Rhetorical questions are questions that are asked without expecting an answer. Writers (or speakers) ask rhetorical questions when they want their audience to think about something or when they are trying to make a point. They don't expect an answer.
1. Teacher to student who has been talkative: "Do you want to teach the class today?"
2. Husband to wife who is taking a long time to get ready to go out: "Are you sure there isn't something else you need to do?"
3. It sure is hot today, isn't it?
4. Who knows?
5. Did you expect me to do anything less than my very best?
Examples of Rhetorical Questions in Literature, Speech, and Song
1. From Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice:
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?
2. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" The Sound of Music
4. "What's love got to do with it?" Tina Turner
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