Hypophora examples

Anticipate the listener’s question and guide them to the answer.

Featured example

What went wrong?
The instructions were out of sight.
Why did that matter?
Nobody checked the settings.
What fixes it?
Putting them beside the machine.

Questions: all three asked by the speaker
Answers: each given straight away

A colleague walks the team from problem to fix.

Why it works

The same speaker asks three questions and answers each one straight away, so the series walks listeners from the problem to the fix.

In plain words: Hidden instructions meant nobody checked the settings; moving them solves it.

More hypophora examples

Why did we change the time?
Because several people could not get here before six.
- Question: asked by the organizer
- Answer: given by the organizer straight away
An organizer explains a schedule adjustment without requesting replies.
Why it works
The organizer asks the question and immediately supplies its reason.
Do we need a bigger room?
Not yet; we need fewer boxes in this one.
- Question: asked by the speaker
- Answer: given by the same speaker
A team member explains why expansion is unnecessary.
Why it works
The speaker asks and answers their own question, then explains the alternative.
How did the cake disappear so quickly?
Six hungry cousins arrived after football.
- Question: asked by the narrator
- Answer: given by the same narrator
A narrator supplies the explanation for a family event.
Why it works
The question introduces the event to be explained, and the same narrator supplies the explanation.
You might ask, who will run the stall when I am away?
Priya has already said yes.
- Question: voiced for the audience by the speaker
- Answer: given by the same speaker
A volunteer answers a worry before anyone raises it.
Why it works
The speaker voices the audience’s likely question, then answers it herself. Putting the question in the listeners’ mouths still counts: the same person asks and answers.

Easy to confuse

“Where is the spare cable?” “In the top drawer,” Jo replies.
Two people exchange practical information.
What to notice
Someone else supplies the answer. This is dialogue, not one speaker’s question-and-answer explanation.
Who would choose another hour in this queue? The speaker sighs and changes the subject.
Someone complains without inviting an answer.
What to notice
The question implies a complaint and is not followed by the speaker’s answer.
Who wants more forms to fill in? Who wants to wait a week for an answer? The speaker pauses, then moves to the next slide.
A manager argues for a simpler booking system.
What to notice
Two questions in a row, but neither gets a stated answer: the point is left implied. That is a pair of rhetorical questions, not hypophora.