1. Embedding Quotes
Mrs. Kirk
Language Arts

2. What is embedding?
Embedding a quote involves seamlessly incorporating the author’s words into your own sentence structure, rather than placing the quote in its own awkward sentence.

3. A few successfully embedded quotes:
Lennie is shockingly large, “a huge man, shapeless of face, with pale eyes” (2) who does not understand his own strength.

4. A few successfully embedded quotes:
Lennie had the mental disability, whereas Candy’s dog was getting very old, and as Carlson put it, wasn’t “no good to himself” (45). They both needed to die because if they kept living they’d just cause more themselves more pain.

5. A few successfully embedded quotes:
The next realization comes in the form of a rabbit, who tells Lennie that George is “sick of [him], he’s gonna beat the hell outta [him] and then go away and leave [him]” (102).
**Brackets [ ] are placed around changed pronouns or verbs; you may change pronouns and verb tenses so they fit context of your sentence. Simply put the change in brackets [ ].

6. Fixing poorly incorporated quotes
Revise each of the following passages by embedding the quotes. Feel free to add or delete or revise or combine words, phrases, and sentences.
Remember, include the quote into your own sentence. Avoid the “this means” strategy.

7. Revise by embedding
“You never had none you crazy bastard. I got both of ‘em here. Think I’d let you carry your own work card?” (5). This shows that Lennie cannot take care of his own things.

8. Revised
Lennie cannot take care of his own things; when Lennie thinks he has misplaced his work card, George taunts “Think I’d let you carry your own work card?” (5).

9. Revise by embedding
“What’s the matter with me? she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody’” (87). What John Steinbeck is trying to imply with this quote is that Curley’s wife is ignored by all of the farm workers.

10. Revised
Ignored by all the ranch hands, Curley’s wife desperately wonders,“What’s the matter with me?...Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody” (87).

11. Revise by embedding
Curely’s wife entertains herself by maliciously commenting on how she will have Crooks hanged by his neck before he ever speaks to her again, and by tempting Lennie with her words. (“O.K. Machine. I’ll talk to you later. I like machines.” (80) This is after realizing that Lennie is the machine that broke Curley’s hand.)

12. Revised
Curely’s wife, after realizing it was Lennie—not a machine--that broke Curley’s hand , tauntingly remarks to Lennie, “I like machines” (80).

13. Revise by embedding
George also knows that his life would be so much easier without Lennie. “God ‘a mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job and work, an’ no trouble” (11). This is what George says to Lennie.

14. Revised
Because of the trouble Lennie often causes, George sometimes thinks that “if [he] was alone [he] could live so easy. [He] could get a job and work, an’ no trouble” (11).

15. Revise by embedding
Crooks shows some of these same feelings while he is talking to Lennie. “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he with you” (72). This shows just how much Crooks wants a friend and how he feels, how he really wants someone to talk to every once in a while, and how he wants to be thought of as normal.

16. Revised
Crooks is jealous of Lennie and George’s relationship and believes that“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is” (72).

17. Revise by embedding
George realized that he should be the one to kill Lennie; he learned from Candy’s mistake. “I ought to shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to let no stranger shoot my dog” (61). This lesson influenced George’s difficult decision to be the one to take Lennie’s life.

18. Revised
George remembers Candy’s lesson: “I ought to shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to let no stranger shoot my dog” (61). It must be George, and no stranger, who shoots Lennie.
Just as Candy “ought to shot [his] dog [himself]” (61), George must be the one to shoot Lennie.

19. Embedding Quotes
Remember, do not throw in a quote as its own random sentence!
Good writers can manipulate their sentences so the quote is embedded into their own sentence structure!
PS: Make sure you cite correctly, too!