GIVING ADVICE AND MAKING SUGGESTIONS

Sometimes other people don't know what to do and they ask us for some advice. So, giving advice (or making recommendations) is very useful for learners of English.There are several ways to do it and each uses a different structure. The choice is yours. 

Let’s take for example the situation in which someone wants to study in an English speaking country, but doesn’t know which one to choose.

Here are some ways which we can use to give advice or make recommendations:

1)Use a modal verb, such as SHOULD/ OUGHT TO, or an equivalent expression, as for example, HAD BETTER. 

You should go to England. London is a very cosmopolitan city and there are lots of foreign students there. 

You ought to travel to…

You’d better go to Canada. The people there can speak both English and French.

2) Use imperatives. In this case, don't forget to sound polite by using the right intonation.

Consider…, 

Take my advice, …

Try + verb ING…

3) Put yourself in the person’s situation 

 If I were you, I’d go to Australia. It is a great place to study.

4) Use the verbs SUGGEST AND RECOMMEND. Note that they have different structures.

SUGGEST + ING-  I suggest visiting…

SUGGEST THAT- I suggest that you visit…

RECOMMEND + ING I recommend traveling to…

RECOMMEND THAT- I recommend that you go to the USA.

5) Use tentative questions, such as:

WHY DON’T YOU…? Why don’t you choose Scotland? The landscape is superb.

HOW ABOUT…? e.g How about coming to Ireland?

WHAT ABOUT…? 

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF…? Have you ever thought of visiting Malta? 

I hope that you have learnt how to give advice in English. so, next time someone asks you for advice, put the expressions into practice, ok?

FOR PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS ONLY

Se você é falante de português, chamo atenção para algumas regrinhas:

A)Note que os modais ‘SHOULD' e OUGHT TO são basicamente a mesma coisa, mas 'ought' vem seguido do infinitivo “TO”.

B)Os verbos SUGGEST E RECOMMEND em inglês têm uma estrutura um pouco diferente do português, pois não podemos dizer “Fulano me sugeriu… Assim, o correto é dizer: Ele sugeriu que (=He suggested travelling to… /  He suggest that I should travel to…)

C)As expressões HOW ABOUT/ WHAT ABOUT significam “Que tal?” e vêm seguidas de VERB+ ING. O mesmo não ocorre com “WHY DON’T YOU”.