The document provides guidance for writing a 3-sentence book or film review. It recommends including an introduction with background details, a paragraph summarizing the plot in chronological order, and a concluding paragraph with overall comments and a recommendation. Descriptive words should be used to convey opinions on both positive and negative aspects. The review should conclude by either recommending or not recommending the book/film.

1. A review
The basic plan for the review of a book or film should be:
Introduction/background Plot General
comments Recommendation
To start the introduction we could use something like: The book/film shows/concerns/deals
with/describes/tells the story of /is based on…You can also give “technical” information:
The film is directed/produced by…, It stars…, It is set in…, The book has been written
by…, It is illustrated/published by…
To tell the plot, you give all the details of the story in chronological order so you will have to
use connectors .As for the tenses, it is common to use the present simple: It tells the story
of a woman who lives in the South of the USA.
In the general comments you may want to give your opinion. Remember to use a good
variety of adjectives, not just “good”, “bad”, “beautiful”, “interesting” or “boring”:
extraordinary, fantastic, fascinating, amazing, superb, thrilling, brilliant, original,
amusing, entertaining, exciting, unimaginative, humourless, awful, predictable,
disappointing, unconvincing, etc.
You may want to mention the good and bad aspects in one sentence, so you will have to use
words to make contrasting points: On the one hand…on the other hand…, Although…,
Despite/in spite of…, Whereas …, However…, Nevertheless…
Finally, you give your “verdict”:
“All in all/In the last analysis/ In conclusion I can thoroughly recommend this book/film
because…”
, or “I find this book/film rather… so I would not recommend it”.