Rhetorical Questions Examples: Figures of Speech

Rhetorical Questions Examples: “Is the Pope Catholic?” It is easy not to see any sense when someone asks you a question like this. You might have come across many such questions in your casual conversation. However, these questions are recognized by English language and are grouped under the category of rhetorical questions. In simple words, rhetorical questions are those, which do not expect any answer from you. They are just used to provoke your thoughts. In some cases, it can be used to poke fun as well. Just think, how you will answer if someone asks you “Do your parents know that you are a dump? As a part of figures of speech, rhetoric questions have its own importance in language and literature. Though it might appear to be senseless and irrelevant, it nevertheless helps make any conversation lively and funny. Rhetorical questions are often used as a tool in a debate to avoid getting into immediate declaration. Again, it is also employed to put forward one’s point i.e. a tentative statement in disguise of a question. Read on and find some interesting examples for rhetorical questions.

Examples of Rhetoric Questions

Common Rhetorical Questions

• “If your friend jumped off the bridge would you do it too?”
• “You don’t think I’m that stupid, do you?”
• “Are you kids still awake?”
• “Who let the dogs out?”
• “What is so rare as a day in June?”
• “How did that idiot ever get elected?”
• “What business is it of yours?”
• “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
• “You’re not really going to wear that, are you?”
• “Are you stupid?”
• “You don’t expect me to go along with that crazy scheme, do you?”
• “How much longer must our people endure this injustice?”
• “Can you do anything right?”
• “Is the sky blue?”
• “Is the Pope Catholic?”
• “Does a bear shit in the woods?”
• “Yeah, why not?”
• “What the hell?”
• “The butler did it, or did he?”
• “It is near not a good place to visit. Is it?”
• “You are ashamed, aren’t you?”
• “You were at the scene of the crime, correct?”
• “How corrupt is the government?”
• “If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?”
• “Are you kidding?”
• “Why do I even bother?”
• “Smoking causes lung cancer. Who knew?”
• “Where are all the flowers gone?”
• “What is so rare as a day in June?”
• “Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolf?”
• “Would you like to swing on a star?”
• “What shall we do with a drunken sailor?”
• “What defense to the homeless has, if the government will not protect them?”
• “How stupid is this new filing system we have?”
• “Are you sure?”

Examples Of RhXetoric Questions From Literature

• “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” – From Shakespeare’s Sonnet No.18.
• 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? – From ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by Shakespeare.
• Mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure? – From ‘Julius Caesar’ by Shakespeare.
• Here was a Caesar! when comes such another? – From ‘Julius Caesar’ by Shakespeare.

Rhetorical Questions As Metaphors

• “How do you solve a problem? Like Maria?”
• “How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?”
• “How do you keep a wave upon the sand?”

Funny Rhetoric Questions

• “If a cow laughed real hard, would milk come out her nose?”
• “If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?”
• “Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?”
• “Why are there locks on the doors to the convenience store that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year?”
• “Why do they call them apartments when they are all stuck together?”
• “Why do you need a driver’s license to buy liquor when you cannot drink and drive? And why do bars have parking lots?”
• “Why do flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?”
• “Why isn’t “phonetic” spelled the way it sounds?”
• “Why does Teflon stick to the frying pan, since nothing ever sticks to Teflon?”
• “Crime doesn’t pay… does that mean my job is a crime?”
• “Do hummingbirds hum because they don’t know the words?”
• “Do pilots take crash-courses?”
• “Can you cry under water?”
• “What happened to Old Zealand? Does a man-eating shark eat women, too?”
• “Why are highways build so close to the ground?”
• “Can you cry under water?”
• “Why do they call it ‘life’ insurance?”
• “Why do we call them restrooms when no one goes there to rest?”
• “If an African elephant comes to America, is it an African-American elephant?”
• “Crime doesn’t pay… does that mean my job is a crime?”
• “Do fish get thirsty?”
• “Do hummingbirds hum because they don’t know the words?”
• “How do you get off a nonstop flight?”
• “If you pamper a cow, do you get spoiled milk?”
• “Why do your feet smell and your nose runs?”
• “Why do they call someone “late” if they died early?”
• “Why don’t they call must aches “mouth brows??”
• “Do Man-eater shark eat women too?”
• “Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?”
• “Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?”
• “Why is it called ‘after dark’, when it is really after light?”
• “Can good looking Eskimo girls be called hot?”
• “If the day before a holiday is called Christmas Eve, is the day after Christmas Adam?”
• “Did Noah have woodpeckers on the ark? If he did, where did he keep them?”

Above mentioned were some examples for rhetoric questions. You might have come across many of them or used them in your day-to-day conversation. It is just the matter of understanding the concept and you will be easily able to identify them. Hope this article helped you understand this figure of speech better.