Article
Art by Gary Hanna
Write Like a Pro,

Welcome to Nowhere

Learn about a mysterious place in the middle of the ocean—and how to use rhetorical questions.

By Mary Kate Frank | Art by Gary Hanna
From the February 2025 Issue

Learning Objective: to understand how writers can strengthen their writing through the use of rhetorical questions.

Featured Skill: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    L.3
  • Grade 6
    L.6.2a
  • Grade 7
    L.7.2a
  • Grade 8
    L.8.2a
TEKS Standards
  • Grades 6, 7, 8
    2a, 2b, 2c

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Directions

  1. Read the article.
  2. Click on the words and phrases in blue to learn about one of the writer’s pro moves: using rhetorical questions.
  3. Take the Write Like a Pro Challenge below.

What to Know

Rhetorical questions are used to make a point or create an effect, rather than get an answer.

You’re floating in the middle of nowhere. All you see, in every direction, is water. Then—look out!—flaming chunks of space debris plummet from the sky and crash into the waves a few feet away. You’re watching the wreckage sink when you hear a strange noise.

What was that?

A voice in your head whispers, “Sea monster!” But there’s no such thing . . . right?

Welcome to one of the most mysterious and remote places on Earth: Point Nemo.

Spacecraft Graveyard

Point Nemo is nothing more than a location in the South Pacific Ocean. What makes it unique is that it is the point farthest from land on the planet.

Nemo is Latin for “no one,” which is a good description of who you would likely find at this incredibly remote spot. The nearest patches of land are each 1,670 miles away, and none of them are inhabited. Most of the time, if you visited Point Nemo, you’d be nearer to astronauts aboard the International Space Station than to other humans on Earth.  

Point Nemo has another out-of-this-world connection: It’s a spacecraft graveyard. Countries including the United States, Russia, and Japan have programmed retiring space vessels to plunge into this part of the ocean since the 1970s.

Why? When uncrewed spacecraft reenter Earth’s atmosphere, they typically break into fiery pieces. Directing them toward empty water helps ensure that no one gets hurt.

Today Point Nemo’s seafloor—which is 13,000 feet down—is home to parts from nearly 300 crashed satellites and space stations.

Jim McMahon/Mapman ® (globe)

The Bloop

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (book jacket) 

Point Nemo is named after Captain Nemo, the submarine commander who battles a terrifying giant squid in Jules Verne’s 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. 
In 1997, underwater microphones recorded a mysterious bloop sound that made people wonder if the area around Point Nemo might be home to something even stranger than a spacecraft graveyard. “The Bloop,” as it came to be known, was incredibly loud—louder than any whale song. Maybe it came from an even bigger animal? Or a monster?

No one knew until 2005. That’s when scientists learned that the sound came from an iceberg breaking away from an Antarctic glacier.

Though the mystery of the Bloop was solved, a lot about Point Nemo remains unknown. Like much of the ocean, it is mostly unexplored. But that may be changing. On March 20, 2024, a British adventurer named Chris Brown became the first person to lead an expedition to Point Nemo.

What did he do to celebrate his arrival?

He jumped into the water, of course!

Write Like a Pro Challenge

Now take what you’ve learned about rhetorical questions and apply it to your own writing. Write a paragraph explaining why your favorite kind of pizza is the best. Include at least two rhetorical questions.

This article was originally published in the February 2025 issue.

Activities (2)
Skill-Building Activities
Answer Key (1)
Activities (2)
Skill-Building Activities
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

Download the Printable Version
Table of Contents

1. Prepare to Read

(1 minute)

Draw students’ attention to the directions in the upper left-hand corner of page 28 or at the top of the digital story page. Read the directions aloud.

2. Read and Discuss

(25 minutes)

Have students read the article and the explanations in the blue circles with a partner.

Optionally, before students complete the Write Like a Pro Challenge, provide them with the Anchor Chart and Practice Activity: Rhetorical Questions and have them complete the activity, either individually or as a class. (Students can keep the anchor chart as a handy reference in their notebooks.)

3. Write

(25 minutes)

Have students work in pairs or independently to take the Write Like a Pro Challenge on page 29 of the printed magazine or at the bottom of the digital story page:

Now take what you’ve learned about rhetorical questions and apply it to your own writing. Write a paragraph explaining why your favorite kind of pizza is the best. Include at least two rhetorical questions.

Project students’ paragraphs on your whiteboard and discuss their rhetorical questions. Alternatively, have students exchange and discuss their paragraphs with a partner.

Text-to-Speech