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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 did his parents teach him that made him a fantastic writer?

2. Why is it important for writers to practice?

3. What type of memoirs does Zinsser like reading?

4. Why is it so hard to write about places?

5. What is a major problem of business writing?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is a major pitfall of sports writers?

4. Why is there an attitude that certain people are only meant to learn certain subjects and skills like writing or science?

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

6. Why is humor the most powerful tool for a nonfiction writer?

7. Why are Americans scared to write about themselves?

8. How does Zinsser feel about writing when a writer doesn't want to? Why do writers have this luxury?

9. Why is bad to fall into cliches when travel writing?

10. Why should writers forget about the final product when they are writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do you think about Zinsser's attitude towards writing, especially in terms of his reaction to the doctor that loves to write at the beginning of the book? At times it feels as though he is all business and no fun. Do you find writing a chore or a pleasure?

Essay Topic 2

Writing as well as you can is hard. What has been the hardest part about writing as well as you could for this class? Was it the editing? The bracketing? Hearing your peers responses or responding to your peers? Evaluate your experience in the class and explain whether it was positive or negative.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 928 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample