Topic 7 (session A) - The grammar of complex sentences > Text effects > Task A

Text effects of linking, listing and nesting

Task A - linking

(i) Identify the LINKED (co-ordinated) units in the highlighted part of the extract below. You may find it helpful to refer to section A of the Linking listing and nesting checksheet if you are not sure what linking is.

[Tip: linking occurs at more than one grammatical level in this example, and so you should be prepared to find examples of linking inside other examples of linking.]

(ii) Why do you think Steinbeck uses linking structures here: what effect/meaning does he create?

[Tip: the speaker is a simpleton, describing the dream farm that he and his friend, George, hope to own one day.]

We gonna have a little place," Lennie explained patiently. "We gonna have a house an' a garden and a place for alfalfa, an' that alfalfa is for the rabbits, an' I take a sack and get it fulla alfalfa and then I take it to the rabbits."

(John Steinbeck , Of Mice and Men)

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