KEY TERMS!
RHETORICAL DEVICES - RHETORICAL QUESTIONS
Language that is able to influence or persuade is called rhetorical. If this language is analysed, what will be found is that some of the words are being used in ways that are slightly unusual - they are being used as rhetorical devices.

There are many of these but a few of the most important are hyperbole (when exaggeration is used for effect, for example, "The end of the world is nigh...!"), repetition (e.g. "It's not good enough, simply not good enough!") and using a triadic structure such as a list of three (e.g. "It's not fair, it's not sensible and it's certainly not decent!").

Perhaps the most common and important type of rhetorical device is the rhetorical question. This is a particular kind of question which, although seemingly entirely innocent, because it assumes its own answer - is a very persuasive rhetorical device indeed.

Rhetorical questions work possibly because we enjoy being engaged through being asked a question - especially when we feel good because we have an answer. Of course, in a rhetorical question, we are bound to have just that!

Here is an example: 'How would you like to be in his position?', you might ask in a persuasive essay - and obviously the answer is implied in the question and need not be given, yet the effect is to engage the reader's attention persuasively.