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Glite Dictionary
John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

6 5.3
An American writer who wrote novels about poor farm workers and working class people
  • proper noun
  • /dʒɒn ˈstaɪnbɛk/
: John Steinbeck
  • Many consider John Steinbeck to be one of the greatest American authors of the 20th century.

Examples

  • John Steinbeck is famous for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, which highlights the struggles of migrant workers.

  • John Steinbeck won the 1940 Prize for The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

    Blog text (34)

  • In his works, John Steinbeck often portrays the challenges faced by the working class.

Synonyms

Steinbeck
vsJohn Steinbeck
15 4.4

An American writer known for novels about poor farm workers and social problems

is the same biography but uses the full formal name rather than the short form

Surface Forms

John Steinbeck main

Morphology

John + Steinbeck

This item is a proper name; knowing the constituents 'John' and 'Steinbeck' does not allow a learner to infer that the referent is a specific American novelist or his biographical details. Proper names are non-compositional, so the meaning (identity and literary significance) is opaque to a B1 learner unless they already know the person.

Etymology

John Steinbeck is the name of an American writer who grew up in the farming Salinas Valley of California and saw the hard life of farm workers up close. Those real scenes and people inspired his books, so his name now stands for stories about 'poverty and unfairness'.