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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do interviews do for the writer?
(a) They make the writer an expert in a given subject.
(b) They make a writer feel stupid since he or she does not know that much about a subject.
(c) Interviews humanize a topic, making a boring topic interesting.
(d) They make a writer less valid, since he or she needs to interview several people to create one article.

2. What does it convey when anyone says he can write a book if he wanted to?
(a) It reveals how easy it is to write a book.
(b) It reveals the misconception that writing is easy.
(c) It shows that people are ignorant.
(d) It shows that there are many talented people in the world.

3. What does Zinsser do before submitting a piece of writing?
(a) He edits everything three times.
(b) He reads everything aloud.
(c) He has his wife read his work.
(d) He submits his writing to his family.

4. Should exclamation points be used in serious writing?
(a) Only serious writing has serious exclamation points. How else would people understand astonishment?
(b) They should be sprinkled into paragraphs like salt and pepper. The more the better.
(c) They should be used sparingly. One per paragraph is fine.
(d) They should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

5. Does the author believe good writing is the result of an inherent talent?
(a) No, the craft always gets better with time.
(b) No, good writers have to be taught.
(c) A good writer
(d) Yes, people are born to write.

6. What has literature transformed into?
(a) Literature is still mainly novels,and very rarely includes other writing.
(b) Literature now includes poetry.
(c) Literature has not transformed at all.
(d) Literature now includes nonfiction and fiction alike.

7. Why do journalists need to perfect uncluttered writing?
(a) It is easier to sell.
(b) People only pay attention to short articles.
(c) They have a limited number of column inches and word limits.
(d) It make their writing easier to read.

8. What is another example of when a person HAS to read bad writing?
(a) Literature anthologies.
(b) Television captions.
(c) Instruction manuals.
(d) Political Journals.

9. What period of writing constantly used semicolons?
(a) All modern writing uses semicolons constantly.
(b) The 19th century.
(c) Only 18th century England.
(d) The 17th century.

10. How does Zissner have the ability to choose words for the American Heritage Dictionary?
(a) He is related to someone on the panel.
(b) He is on the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel
(c) He works for the American Heritage Dictionary
(d) He created the Dictionary.

11. Can a writer's style be affected to the reader?
(a) No, it has to be genuine.
(b) Yes, so long as the writing is really dense.
(c) Yes, so long as the writing is filled with rich prose.
(d) No, it has to be manipulated.

12. What should every paragraph end with?
(a) Every paragraph should end with a period.
(b) All paragraphs should repeat the first sentence.
(c) Every paragraph needs to have a hook or a cliffhanger that will lead the reader into the next paragraph.
(d) All paragraphs should end with a summary of the entire paragraph.

13. Why should interview questions be written before the interview?
(a) To focus the interview around a certain theme.
(b) To avoid having to do it at the interview.
(c) To keep the person being interviewed on track.
(d) To avoid drawing a blank in the middle of an interview.

14. What should the lead in the first sentence do for a reader?
(a) It should introduce the article informatively and let the reader know it will be a good read.
(b) It should capture the reader and force him or her to keep reading.
(c) It should tell the reader very little about the article, so he or she will continue reading.
(d) It should be very basic to hook in all types of readers.

15. What is an alternative way of showing astonishment in writing?
(a) Writing in all caps.
(b) Typing in asterisks with verbs like *gasp*.
(c) Writing in excessive dialogue where people and characters say they are astonished.
(d) A well written sentence does not need excalamtion marks. The words themselves should be the intensity of the sentence.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the purpose of colons?

2. What does Zissner believe authors are fearful of in their writing?

3. How does a writer become better at his craft?

4. Where should the writer find his or her words?

5. What is an example of a dead language?

(see the answer keys)

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