28
A book review (B)
Textbook: pp. 118–121
GoalWriting a review and recommendation letter; correcting parallelism errors; gap-fill exercises.
New words
recommendation letter · tavsiya xatichapter · bobgripping · qiziqarli, tortuvchipredictable · taxmin qilish mumkin
Explanation
A recommendation letter is an informal or semi-formal letter in which you recommend a book to a friend or teacher. Structure: greeting, two or three sentences about the book, the reasons for recommending it (using parallel structure), who will like it, closing. Parallelism checklist: 1) list items have the same form (-ing/-ing/-ing or adjective/adjective/adjective), 2) both/and, either/or, not only/but also are followed by the same structure, 3) in comparisons: It is easier to read than to write (to-infinitive + to-infinitive). In gap-fill tasks check the meaning, the grammatical form and the connectors.
Worked examples
Dear Laylo, I recommend this novel because it is gripping, well written and surprisingly funny.
It is more fun to discuss a book than to read it alone.
Class activity
Book swap: each student writes a recommendation letter for a partner; the receiver corrects parallelism errors with a pen.
Practice
1
Fill the gap: The story is exciting, ___ (emotion) and easy to follow.
emotional
2
Correct: The author writes clearly, carefully and with humour.
The author writes clearly, carefully and humorously.
3
Complete with both ... and: The poem is ___ short ___ powerful.
both short and powerful
4
Why is a spoiler a problem in a recommendation?
It reveals important events, so the reader loses the surprise and the interest in reading.