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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 does Zissner think of gimmicky writing?

2. What ability do great authors have?

3. What is the main attitude that writers have today?

4. Why doesn't Zissner provide examples of these writers he admires?

5. Can good writing be taught?

Short Essay Questions

1. Writers are told to study the market before submitting pieces. Why is this advice irrelevant?

2. When can some writers break grammar rules?

3. What is the major problem with American writing in terms of simplicity?

4. Who is the real audience in a piece of writing?

5. What skills does an interviewer need to possess?

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

7. Why are thesauri so good for brainstorming?

8. Why is it important for writers to maintain unity throughout a piece? Three things are vitally important.

9. Why are interviews so important to an article?

10. Why does Zinsser want writers to cut out ornamental writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

What type of writing should not be changed and why? What are some ways to better industry standards, where wording needs to remain uniform?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 782 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample