Rhetorical Questions
Objectives of today’s lesson:
In this lesson, Learn English with Julia presents to you “Rhetorical Questions”, in order to:
- see rhetorical examples
- make your own rhetorical statements
- understand the rhetorical question effect
- know how to formulate a rhetorical answer
Video Script:
Hello and welcome back!
Let’s find out when to use rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are asked when no answer is expected or when we want to express a feeling, draw attention to something, or provoke a reaction or a feeling.
Here we have scenarios illustrating those points.
We can use a rhetorical question to stress how difficult something is: Do you know how hard it is to pronounce correctly?
This is an example of a rhetorical question.
We use them also to provoke a reaction or change the course of an action.
What does a person have to do to get some help around here?
That was our second example.
Third scenario: when we wish to emphasise that there is no answer, that a situation is negative.
Can you believe how long I had to wait?
That was our third example.
We use rhetorical questions to project aggressive rejection to a suggestion , instructions or requests.
For instance: How should I know?
And our final scenario: to provoke agreement or a positive inclination
For instance: Didn’t I say this wasn’t going to work?
That’s all you need to know.
Do watch the video on tag questions.
It’s related!
Thanks for watching!
Grammar Quiz:
Keywords listed in English:
- rhetorical question
- for effect
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