13 May 14
We still fight with the problem of how to to question effectively.
Types of questions which will bring us nowhere:
* Questions which are asertions in disguise (sometimes called rhetoric questions). This is the case, since they are just there to make the speaker more sure of their point. Often they are formulated in a declamatoric way which reaches out more to sentiment than to reason.
* Questions which only serve to test the knowledge of the other. Since the "true" answer is already known by the questioner the biggest effect can be to bring the questioned into the same tour of thoughts. Nothing new has been gained.
* Questions posed for the heck of it or for funny effects...no comments
14 May 14
1 edit
Originally posted by PonderableA true question (not rhetorical) is supposed to be a means to an end. So IMO an effective question is one that is likely to achieve that end. I believe an effective question is also relevant (not trivial) and addresses what someone might actually wonder about or care to know. Some of the best questions I've seen are ones that address the "elephant in the room"... in other words, something many of us wonder about but no one has bothered to ask. The art of questioning is like the art of driving a car. It's good to be able to do both but neither is an end in itself... the point of doing either one is to get somewhere.
We still fight with the problem of how to to question effectively.
Types of questions which will bring us nowhere:
* Questions which are asertions in disguise (sometimes called rhetoric questions). This is the case, since they are just there to make the speaker more sure of their point. Often they are formulated in a declamatoric way which reaches o ...[text shortened]... new has been gained.
* Questions posed for the heck of it or for funny effects...no comments
And since an answer is the desired result, I wasn't being flippant when I asked if there was an art to answering questions. It was meant as a rhetorical question, because I think it's just as important to put some thought into answering questions as it is in asking them.
14 May 14
Originally posted by PonderableThe most important part of asking a question is to make it open ended.
This thread serves as an earnest base for a discussion.
The rules:
* be clear!
* don't disguise things.
So there is an art to questioning.
The grammatic or syntactic structure is not making a question a question.
A question which is a statement in disuse is not furthering the communication.
If you want to I invite you to discuss the thesis above.
Enjoy
For example I could ask you if you are a numb sack. You would of course respond in the negative.
As an alternative I could ask you what it feels like being a numb sack. Your response would tend to elaborate beyond a yes or no answer.