Advanced Writing with English in Use

Reviews • Module4B

BModelling yourw ritingvery closelyon the SpaceWagonreview ,usethese

notes to write two paragraphs lookingat theadvantages anddisadvantagesof a

newmountainbikecalled theLamia Anboto. Startyour review, ' There aretwo

schools of thoughtabo ut mountain bikessuch as .. .'

Again stth eLamia Anh oto

• e xpens ive(£400)


• 21 gear s :unne ce ssaryin citi e s
  ofmoun tainhik esused
  only in citie s)


• attractivetoth ieves,so
  se ldo mused

For'theLamiaAnhotu

• use fulinci tv


• shock absorbers.thickly re s:good(9.5%
  for roughsurfacesand po thole s
  ofc ity roads


• callclimbonto p;w elllcll t


• ecology: c ar owne rs te mp tedinto
  cyclinghyfasluonuhlcmachi ne

1.1 Film review

A Complete the review by writingthe missingwordin each gap .Use onl y one

wordfor each space. The exercisebegin s with an example(0).

BThis filmreview is mainly the writer's opinion, but he neversays'I'or 'in my

opi ni on' .Howdoeshe conveysuch astrong opinionwithoutusingthe first

person?

Pedro Almodovar, almost a national inst it ut ion in
Spainand certainly the onlySpanishdirector
everybody knows,comes upw it h a nasty surprise
inHighHeels.(0) This is that he's no
longer capable ofsurpri singus.

Thereare,(1) ,momen ts in his
new film, ( 2) _ has made a
mount ainofpesetas inSpain, when things happen
(3) are, tosay theleast, odd.
(4) as whenVictoria Abril, as a
television newscast er, announces the murderof her
husbandon the box,calmly addingt hat itis she
w hois the culprit.

Almodovar'sf ilm is stylish,garishlydecorated,
anddre ss edw it h qreatand fashion-conscious
aplomb. It is (5)_ equippedw it h a
real capacity to allow itstwosplendid stars to
display(6)__ actingand otherassets.

But it doesn't exactly roll along in the

(7)_ f luent wayasWomenOn

TheVergeOf ANervous Breakdown,

(8)_ _. does it containthe fr issons of

TieMeUp,TieMeDown.(9) fad,

it is not abovea certainflatness inplacesandis

distinct ly (10) long.

(11) some funny jibes at the

media and somesuitably eccentr ic minor

characters, this is a melodrama that not onlylacks

real emot ion. but, dare one say i t,

(12) hasn't a lot ofreal f lair. It is

(13) __worthseeing;Almodovar

wouldhave toqrowa different skin actuallyto be

dull.( 14 )~_ _. _ _the inspirationisn't

(15) any meansconsistent lythere,

and it shows in the film 's slight lydisorganizedand

spray-gunapproach.

Types of w riting • 73