View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is there an opportunity for great creative writing?
(a) At the local library.
(b) Online at freelance job web sites.
(c) LIterary journals.
(d) Writing for the arts is the best opportunity to write creatively.

2. What do people need to understand about science?
(a) It is easy to understand if given the chance.
(b) It is a foundation that needs to be built upon.
(c) Only nerds can learn it.
(d) It can be learned at any point in life.

3. What advice does Zinsser give to employees who want to change business writing?
(a) Take their concerns to the board.
(b) Keep trying to change it and make it better.
(c) Write the way they want regardless of what their bosses say.
(d) Complain to HR.

4. What stops Americans from writing memoirs?
(a) Memoires don't sell well enough.
(b) An attitude to please teachers and not readers.
(c) Editors hate reading memoirs therefore don't pick them up.
(d) People don't like reading memoires.

5. How does Zinsser create his final products?
(a) He takes a week to read over his writing with fresh eyes.
(b) He pawns them off to his editor which sends his writing back with red squiggles.
(c) He usually knows his writing is good, so he just gives everything a once over and he is done.
(d) He spends hours finding the right words, best rhythms, and makes sure every sentence leads into another.

6. What should writers focus on when writing travel pieces?
(a) Substance and exaggerating adjectives.
(b) Style and sentence structure.
(c) Style and substance.
(d) Information and substance.

7. Should a writer use different voices for different types of writing?
(a) No, a reader should always stick to his or her voice. No matter what.
(b) Yes. Different situations call for different voices and types of writing.
(c) No, it will make it seem like the writer has a personality disorder.
(d) No, a writer cannot use the same voice when writing about politics and jazz.

8. What does Zinsser think about this misconception?
(a) He agrees with it and thinks writers can never understand complex scientific theories.
(b) He agrees with it and thinks scientists cannot write at all.
(c) He disagrees with it, but offers no reason why.
(d) He states anyone can write about anything if his approach is correct.

9. How much information should a writer provide to his or her readers?
(a) Only dates and times of the show with a thumbs up or down.
(b) Very little. Readers need to be left in the dark so they can go see a show on their own.
(c) Everything about the show that he or she felt was worthwhile.
(d) Enought to make a show worth seeing, without spoiling it for the readers and viewers.

10. What is the biggest fear that nonfiction writers have?
(a) Having people laugh at their article, that wasn't a humorous piece.
(b) Having their computer break, mid story, without having saved a word.
(c) Not being able to bring off an assignment and get it dont with any justice.
(d) Not being able to sell their story that they worked so hard on.

11. What type of memoirs does Zinsser like reading?
(a) He only reads novels.
(b) He does not read memoirs.
(c) He likes reading immigrant memoirs.
(d) He likes reading memoirs about other writers and their experiences.

12. Does ZInsser give in to his editor's changes?
(a) No. He tends to fight them constantly.
(b) Sometimes, only when they are worth it.
(c) No, and he never gives in.
(d) Yes, they are the editors after all.

13. What is a second approach Zinsser recommends that complements the first approach mentioned?
(a) Writing only in the first person, then deciding on a tense later.
(b) Going outside and finding out how a place impacts others.
(c) Never reading other travel pieces, because this adds to cliched writing.
(d) Going within people's homes and seeing what they feel about foreigners.

14. Did Zinsser always want to write?
(a) He always wanted to write for a newspaper.
(b) Yes, ever since he was a little boy.
(c) No, his love of writing came after being deployed.
(d) No, it was a random interest.

15. Why do criticism writers have to be at a higher level than other writers?
(a) Criticism writers are no different. They still need to use the same basic rules of writing.
(b) Only those able to understand the arts can write about them, and very little people can.
(c) Criticism need to be stronger at literary elements because they need to recreate a scene or a song in the imagination of their readers with words only.
(d) Criticism is harder to write about because it tends to be less attractive than other writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do sports writers forget to do when writing about sports for so long?

2. What happens when writers do not stick to proper grammar rules?

3. What is a requirement for good literary criticism?

4. What is an example of American television shows that use humor to talk about serious issues?

5. His article was supposed to be about his impressions of salt caravans, why didn't he write more about this?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 965 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample