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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part I: Chapter 7 Usage.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Zissner believe authors are fearful of in their writing?
(a) The reader not relating to them.
(b) Stating where they live.
(c) Writing poorly.
(d) Stating their true opinions, ideas, and judgments.

2. Has the period of political euphemisms improved since the Vietnam War?
(a) No, it is the same.
(b) No, it has gotten worse.
(c) Yes, politicians know how to unclutter their writing now.
(d) Yes, politicians hire better speech writers.

3. What are the two components of the original Roget's Thesaurus?
(a) A dictionary listing of words, and a numberd section with synonyms arranged in broad concepts.
(b) Antonyms with very in depth definitions.
(c) A dictionary of antonyms, and one of synonyms.
(d) A list of synonyms and their definitions with pictures on one side.

4. What is the response previous students have to his style of edits?
(a) They say then can still see the brackets.
(b) They say they never liked the highlighting.
(c) They like it much better than red pen all over a paper.
(d) They hated it, and have nightmares about his style.

5. What is an example of a dead language?
(a) Latin is dead because nobody speaks it anymore.
(b) Chinese because it never changes.
(c) Italian because there is only one country that speaks it.
(d) Spanish because its roots are disintegrating.

Short Answer Questions

1. How rigid are the lines between proper and improper English usage?

2. What does reading aloud do for the writer?

3. What is a strange but effective way of proofreading to check for errors?

4. Why is it important for writers to read constantly?

5. What group of people does the author think has the worst type of writing?

(see the answer key)

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