Rhetorical question - Examples - Mrs. Mitchell's AP lANGUAGE



The rhetorical question is usually defined as any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks. For example, "Why are you so stupid?" is likely to be a statement regarding one's opinion of the person addressed rather than a genuine request to know. Similarly, when someone responds to a tragic event by saying, "Why me, God?!" it is more likely to be an accusation or an expression of feeling than a realistic request for information. A regular question really wants a REAL answer…Rhetorical question - Examples"What's the matter with you?" "Don't you know any better?" "Have you no shame?" "Do fish swim?" "Are you crazy?" "Who cares?" "How should I know?" "Are you kidding me?" Some TV shows have had rhetorical questions as titles, such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Whose Line Is It Anyway?.Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind" is a series of rhetorical questions. This is spoofed in an episode of The Simpsons, in which Homer attempts to correctly answer "How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?".Examples of Double Entendres:1. The ladies of the Walnut Street Mission have discarded clothes. They invite you to come and inspect them. 2. It pays to remember your social obligations. If you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't come to yours. 3. Traffic Sign: Slow Children Crossing. 4. Druggist's Sign: We Dispense with Accuracy. 5. Police authorities are finding the solution of murders more and more difficult because the victims are unwilling to cooperate with the police. 6. Testimonial from an insurance firm: My husband and I took out a home insurance policy with your company. In less than a month our house accidentally burned down. I consider it a blessing. 7. I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows. 8. Public Service Announcement: Our X-ray unit will give you an examination for tuberculosis and other diseases which you will receive free of charge. 9. I cannot get sick pay. I have six children. Can you tell me why? 10. Church Announcement: What is hell? Come to church next Sunday and listen to our new minister! Paradox vs. AntithesisParadox: a statement whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought. Christ used paradox in his teaching: "They have ears but hear not." Or in ordinary conversation, we might use a paradox, "Deep down he's really very shallow." Paradox attracts the reader's or the listener's attention and gives emphasis.Paradox ExamplesThis program came installed on my computer it's called: Microsoft WorksWhen you increase your knowledge, you see how little you know. You see how much you still have to learn. When you really know a lot, you can say: "I know that I know nothing." Paradox in Romeo and Juliet by William ShakespeareAct I Scene V“For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”Here, holiness is juxtaposed with physical love, which in itself is a paradox because holiness shuns physical love.Antithesis: opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. *Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater *Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."(Goethe)"Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee."(advertising slogan)"Hillary has soldiered on, damned if she does, damned if she doesn't, like most powerful women, expected to be tough as nails and warm as toast at the same time."(Anna Quindlen, "Say Goodbye to the Virago." Newsweek, June 16, 2003)"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities) ................
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