"It doesn't make any sense to clean up a rail yard in downtown Newark so it can be a drinking water reservoir," he said, speaking rhetorically.

He was not only speaking rhetorically.

I was only speaking rhetorically.

Really, I had been speaking rhetorically.

'Rhetorically speaking,' Hasson said, wishing that Werry would get on with making his point in a more direct manner.

He had been speaking rhetorically, expecting no response.

The old woman spoke rhetorically.

Aldanto had not been speaking rhetorically, for a brisk walk brought them straight to Casa Ventuccio proper.

She had been speaking rhetorically, having already caught on to this particular idiocy.

How is it possible to speak rhetorically of rural development and in this manner dismantle a sector, involving a product such as tobacco, which has a market?