Can you tell me what time it is?
Care must be taken not to confuse this form of interrogation with Figurative Interrogation. The latter is often strongly assertive. For instance:
God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before?
This is equivalent to asking a question and answering it at the same time. It asks in words, “was ever?” It answers in inflection, “there never was.” Grammatically, then, it is a question; rhetorically, it is an exclamation. Here is another form of Figurative Interrogation:
Are you going out? (No answer.) Are you going out? (I demand an answer.)
In this case, the second question becomes a demand. The speaker cares for an answer not so much because of any interest in it as such, but because he desires his authority respected.
The following examples of Figurative Interrogation should be carefully studied:
Is there a single atrocity of the French more unprincipled and inhuman than that of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, in Poland?
Did he not know that he was making history that hour? Did he not know this, I say?
If I were to propose three cheers for Washington, is there a single man, woman, or child in this vast audience who would refuse to lift his voice?