One of the novels I have read is 'Speed Of Dark'. This book was one of the reasons I started to study English.
When I wanted to read it, all the Korean copies are sold and there seemed to have no plan to republish it.
Before I read it, I only read books that were already made into movies such as 'The Chronicles Of Narnia', 'I Am Legend' and so on.
So this book was the first book I read without knowing any story informations.
Although it was categorized as a science fiction, it seemed more like a drama to me.
It happened in the near future where autism cured before people were born.
The main character was the last generation who couldn't take the treatment, including his fellow workers.
But they lived well. They have jobs and got along with themselves.
While I was reading, I couldn't find any differences between me and them.
When they had a problem with normal people, it was same to me.
Unfortunately their boss, He didn't like them. As far as I remember, it cost a lot of money to maintain his autistic workers.
And then the boss heard about a treatment that could cure autistic people even after they were born.
It was still in the experimental stage though, he wanted to his autistic workers take the treatment.
And the main character was struggling whether to take the treatment or not.
For the ending, some people didn't like it and from their point of view I understand, but it was good for me.
There was a try to make it into a movie, it didn't work unfortunately.
I wish movie producers would take a try one more time.
| Category | Adequate to good | Good to Excellent | Needs work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grammatical Accuracy The learners ability to use nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. correctly in sentences, using verb tenses accurately, and having the correct agreement between subjects and predicates. For instance, one would say "they were" instead of "they was." | There are 3-4 grammatical errors People thought this 1 | There are 0-2 grammatical errors People thought this 3 | There are 5 or more grammatical errors People thought this 1 |
| Punctuation The learner's ability to use certain marks to clarify meaning of their writing by grouping words grammatically into sentences and clauses and phrases. | There are 3-4 errors in capitalization and punctuation. People thought this 0 | There are 0-2 errors in capitalization and punctuation. People thought this 5 | There are 5 or more errors in capitalization and punctuation. People thought this 0 |
| Spelling The learners' ability to form words with the correct letters in the correct order | There are 3-4 spelling errors People thought this 0 | There are 0-2 spelling errors People thought this 4 | There are 5 or more spelling errors People thought this 0 |
| Style The learner's ability to tailor the written work to fit the specific context, purpose, or audience | Mostly understandable. However, there are a few errors which cause confusion. People thought this 0 | Easy to understand. Writing flows and keeps reader engaged. People thought this 5 | Quite hard to understand. People thought this 0 |
I really liked this text and it has inspired me to read the book! Your critque of the book is well written and I found little wrong. I have made a few tweaks and explained why. Well done and I look forward to future texts from you! Ros
One of the novels I have read is 'Speed Of Dark'. This book was one of the reasons I started to study English.
When I wanted to read it, all the Korean copies
are soldwere sold out [Use the past tense here and use the idiomatic phrase "sold out" which means there were no books left] and there seemsedtohavebe no plan to republish it.Before I read it, I had only read books that were already made into movies such as 'The Chronicles Of Narnia', 'I Am Legend' and so on.
So this book was the first book I read without knowing any information about the story.
informations.Although it was categorized as
ascience fiction, it seemed more like a drama to me.It happened in the near future where autism was cured before people were born.
The main character was from the last generation who couldn't take the treatment, and
includingincluded his fellow workers.Although they were autistic
Butthey lived well. [I think it’s important to mention autism again here as it’s a new paragraph]. Theyhaveall had jobs and got along withthemselveseach other.While I was reading, I couldn't find any difference
sbetween me and them.When they had a problem with normal people,
it was same to me. I felt I was the same as them.Unfortunately their boss
, Hedidn't like them. [You don’t need “he” here]. As far as I remember, it cost a lot of money to maintain his autistic workers.And then the boss heard about a treatment that could cure autistic people even after they were born.
Even though it was still in the experimental stage
though, he wantedtohis autistic workers to take the treatment.And the main character was struggling to decide whether to take the treatment or not.
For the ending,Some people didn't like the ending and from their point of view I understand, but it was good for me.There was
a tryan attempt to makeitthis book into a movie; it didn't work unfortunately.I wish movie producers would take a chance and try one more time.
Thank you for your compliment and corrections!! Before I published this post, I checked it to find out whether I used the past tense correctly and it seemed it didn't worked well. I will try to write sentences with the correct tenses next time!!!
hi
Hi
Hi!
Fabulous work, your spelling and punctuation is almost 100% accurate, so well done on that :)
A couple of things to note as well as the comments above:
- Rather than referring to science fiction as a 'category', I would refer to it as a 'genre', so I would say 'Although the genre of it was science fiction, it seemed more like a drama to me'.
- I would rephrase your third sentence from the bottom as 'Some people didn't like the ending and I understand their point of view, but I liked it'.
Thanks,
Becky :)
Thank you very much!! Becky :D
Good job, OnTheEarth. I also got curious to know more about the story. I may read it in the near future. I would also like to find out why it is called ‘Speed of Dark’.
Like Becky, I am impressed by your great spelling and punctuation skills. Ros and Becky have already mentioned several useful corrections. I would like to propose a way to improve your English skills while enjoying your favorite books.
The first thing you need to do is getting the audio recording of the book. After reading the book once, you should listen to the recording and read along. That way, you will improve your listening and pronunciation skills at the same time. It will also help the grammatical structures stick in your mind more readily.
If possible, watch the movie which is based on the book. Movies are great for learning English since they help you involve more senses and since they are interesting to watch. You can start by watching the movie with subtitles and then without subtitles. Also, you can take notes of useful phrases and structures. These phrases will readily stick in your mind since they contain audiovisual information.
If you have any questions, please let me know.