Xml structure with XStream

Answer 1

Yes it is possible. Look at the Alias Tutorial and you want the Attribute Alias section.

Answer 2

To convert them to attributes try the following:

xs.useAttributeFor(EnglishWord.class, "word");
xs.useAttributeFor(EnglishWord.class, "occurenceNumber");
xs.useAttributeFor(EnglishWord.class, "rating");
xs.useAttributeFor(EnglishWord.class, "isVerb");