Book reviews

Question 1

Book reviews analyse a book and give background information about the author, etc. When you read a book review in Spanish you would therefore expect to come across the following kind of content:

Answer 1

A short summary of the book (main ideas, purpose of the book, etc.)
The background of the book (topic)
Information about the author (other books, style, etc.)
An evaluation of the book (giving reasons).

Question 2

Each different text type is likely to contain a range of particular content. Considering the typical content of a certain type of text is a way of predicting, which is a useful strategy for reading and listening to material in another language.

Question 3

deserve it or to be worth it

Answer 3

merecer o valer la pena

Question 4

It’s not worth the effort/that much effort.

Answer 4

a noun

Tanto esfuerzo no vale la pena.

Question 5

(speaking generally) It’s not worth studying for five years.

Answer 5

an infinitive

No merece la pena estudiar cinco años.