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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the two components of the original Roget's Thesaurus?

2. How does Zinsser approach unusual words?

3. What is the old view of nonfiction?

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

5. What is one of Zissner's biggest pet peeves?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do you know when an article is a failure?

2. In what point of view should a writer start writing? Why?

3. What are Zinsser's thoughts on the writing profession?

4. Does Zinsser believe it is important for an author's personality to shine through his or her writing?

5. What skills does an interviewer need to possess?

6. How much information should a writer gather before writing a piece? Why is it important?

7. What happens to the reader when he or she reads cluttered writing?

8. Why are writers fearful to insert their own opinions, ideas, and judgments in their own writing?

9. What becomes of a finished article that nobody reads?

10. When is it acceptable for a new word to enter the English languages American Heritage Dictionary? Can you give an example?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the importance of using modern words versus antiquated words in writing. Explain when it would be important to use older words versus more modern words.

Essay Topic 2

Change the rhythm of the following two sentences to a more accurate rhythm based on the words:

They walked slowly. The cars zoomed past them in an endless glow of white and red lights as they elongated their glides.

Answer: The first sentence should be elongated to give a slow pace to the sentence. The second sentence should be short and crisp. The words can be exchanged between sentences.

Essay Topic 3

Rewrite the following sentence into an ending sentence and the first sentence in the following paragraph: The car drove off the cliff. Make it compelling. Make the reader want to keep on reading.

Ex: Ending Sentence: The car sped off the cliff. First sentence next paragraph: They all survived.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 904 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample