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A rhetorical question is a question that doesn't require an answer.

What's the name for a rhetorical device that's a non-question that requires an answer ?

Eg, in the following convo what role does "Say we did" play ?

Person A: "We could 'forget' to invite Steve."
Person B: "Say we did."
Person A: "If he came anyway, we'd know he wasn't a vampire."

My best guess is "implied question". In this case, it would expand to "Let's say we did, what would happen ?"

Can you think of any other examples ?

Note: there's "The opposite of a rhetorical statement" which is also looking for the "opposite" of a rhetorical question, but that is about requiring the listener to respond with a question.

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  • "Say we did" has several words elided.
    – Hot Licks
    Apr 5, 2020 at 17:23
  • @HotLicks i've never heard "elided" used to refer to entire words, but yes, there is a lot that's implied. I'm not a linguist by any stretch, so feel free to fix my question if I've used the wrong terms
    – nqzero
    Apr 5, 2020 at 17:29
  • A leading statement? "We expected you at the party."
    – Weather Vane
    Apr 5, 2020 at 18:43
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    I'm stuck at the forget part.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Apr 5, 2020 at 20:21
  • 2
    It's leading the other person to continue decribing the scenario.
    – Barmar
    Apr 6, 2020 at 5:16

1 Answer 1

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The sentence Say we did is also a declarative statement.

Forgot sounds like the elided word: To omit or slur over (a syllable, for example) in pronunciation.

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  • 1
    The question is about the response by person B, not the statement by person A.
    – Barmar
    Apr 6, 2020 at 5:14

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