“Who knows?” “Are you kidding me?” “What’s not to love?” A rhetorical question is asked to create a dramatic effect or make a point, not to get an answer. The answer is usually obvious, or the question is unanswerable.

Rhetorical questions are common in speeches, essays, and everyday talk. They pull the audience in. They make listeners feel like they are part of the argument. “Can we really afford to wait?” implies that we cannot. “Is this justice?” implies that it is not. In writing, rhetorical questions can be effective openings or transitions. But they can also be annoying if overused. They can come across as manipulative, especially when the answer is not as obvious as the speaker pretends. A good rhetorical question respects the audience’s intelligence. A bad one insults it.

Common uses

• To emphasize a point
• To engage the audience
• To transition between ideas
• To express emotion