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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part IV: Chapter 20 The Sound of Your Voice.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do people forget about writing?
(a) It is a craft and it can be learned.
(b) It is a science that is hard to understand.
(c) It is a gift that only certain people have.
(d) It is easy and anyone can do it.

2. Why should companies learn to produce better writing?
(a) To get more clients to understand their terms.
(b) To appeal to educators.
(c) In a capitalistic world, there is always competition and good writing reduces it.
(d) To produce more writing jobs.

3. Do good writers decorate their writing?
(a) Yes, always with lots of extra words.
(b) No, only bad writers do this to sell more copies.
(c) No, good writers dont need ornamentation.
(d) Yes, with good punctuation.

4. Chapter 3 is about __________.
(a) Increasing the simplicity of writing.
(b) Simplicity.
(c) Clutter.
(d) Reducing clutter.

5. What is another important characteristic of a writer?
(a) To be aware of the way words are spelled.
(b) To be aware of the rhythm and sound of words together.
(c) To sound out simple sentences.
(d) To sound out simple syllables.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is it that the bad writers mentioned above do that makes their writing terrible?

2. What advice does Zinsser give to employees who want to change business writing?

3. What does Zinsser do before submitting a piece of writing?

4. How does Zinsser approach unusual words?

5. What other group of people uses euphemisms or fad terms?

(see the answer key)

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