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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What approach to a place should writers take?
(a) To go within a place and see how it impacts the writer.
(b) Reading other travel pieces and compare them.
(c) To go around asking the locals questions.
(d) Just writing ambiguously.

2. What is a requirement for good literary criticism?
(a) Subscribing to arts magazines.
(b) Frequenting the theatre often.
(c) Knowing the subject that the writer wants to write about.
(d) Having a comparitive literature degress.

3. What is a good way to edit a long story?
(a) Take a break and read it with fresh eyes.
(b) Have someone else read it aloud.
(c) Break it into sections to make it more manageable.
(d) Read it backwards.

4. Is sports writing different from any other form of good writing?
(a) No, good writing is good writing.
(b) Yes, it isn't as comprehensive.
(c) Yes, it isn't as important.
(d) No, it is just as good as other writing.

5. Cliche words should be avoided at all costs. What else should be avoided?
(a) Cliched details.
(b) Overly describing a single place.
(c) Assuming the writer has already been to a place.
(d) Not describing a place enough.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did he love about the New York Herald?

2. What should writers focus on the most?

3. What is different about every writer's voice?

4. Where does a writer need to start to get his or her voice discovered?

5. What is the biggest fear that nonfiction writers have?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does a writer's fear of new subjects keep him from taking original and interesting projects?

2. Does he recommend this level of pride to other writers?

3. Why are Americans scared to write about themselves?

4. What is a major pitfall of sports writers?

5. Explain some of the choices that writers have to take when editing?

6. What tense do business writer stend to use that hurts their writing?

7. Should sports writers add their opinions in sports articles?

8. Who does Zinsser blame when it comes to focusing on the final prize instead of the work of an article?

9. How is taste involved in writing?

10. What needs to be described in a travel article?

(see the answer keys)

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