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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1, The Writer's Nature, Pages 1-34.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word does Gardner use to mean a phrase is worn out and overused?
(a) Sentimental.
(b) Ironic.
(c) Trite.
(d) Cliche.

2. What author of Over the Edge does Gardner cite in Chapter 1?
(a) Harlan Ellison.
(b) Kurt Vonnegut.
(c) Franz Kafka.
(d) James Joyce.

3. What magazine does Gardner suggest for good literary work in Chapter 1?
(a) The Londoner.
(b) The London Book Review.
(c) The New Yorker.
(d) The Reader's Digest.

4. Gardner states that in the works of Shakespeare, language always serves character and what?
(a) Aesthetic.
(b) Irony.
(c) Action.
(d) Wit.

5. Gardner states that the effective writer leads the reader into a continuous what?
(a) Dream.
(b) Story line.
(c) Characterization.
(d) Trance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What year did Raymond Carver move to Chico, California?

2. What is the honest answer to the question most young writer's ask of "Do I have what it takes to be a writer?" according to Gardner?

3. Of which writer does Gardner say, "the brilliant language with which he describes a minor character cannot help but suggest that the words he chooses are more important to him than the token secretary behind the desk"?

4. What does Gardner state in Chapter 1 that we call a writer who cares more for language than the other elements of fiction?

5. Who is one of the writers Gardner notes in Chapter 1 as having both a fine ear for language and also a fascination with the materials?

(see the answer key)

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