Question

question 3 of 10
read this excerpt from the grapes of wrath.
the tractors ignored hills and gulches, water courses, fences, houses.
which sentence best describes steinbeck’s diction here?
a. he uses the word \ignored\ to show that the tractors had no connection with the land.
b. he uses words about farming to show his reader that he knows what he’s talking about.
c. he omits \and\ at the end of the sentence to show how many things were ignored.
d. he uses the words \hills and gulches\ to describe the highs and lows of the tenant experience.

Explanation:

• Option A: "Ignored" frames tractors as indifferent to the land's features, but this misses the specific diction choice of omitting the final conjunction.
• Option B: The words listed are not farming-specific, so this is incorrect.
• Option C: Steinbeck uses an asyndeton (omitting the final "and" before "houses") to create a rapid, cumulative list, emphasizing the sheer number of elements the tractors disregard, which is a key diction choice here.
• Option D: "Hills and gulches" refer to physical land features, not the tenant experience's emotional highs and lows, so this is a misinterpretation.

Answer:

C. He omits "and" at the end of the sentence to show how many things were ignored.