1. Learning to Make Direct Suggestions
 

The following dialogues have examples of direct suggestions.
 

PATIENT: But doctor, I dislike taking medicine.

DOCTOR: Mrs. Smith, you suffer from high blood pressure because you are overweight. I suggest that you lose weight, and you won’t need to take medicine.
 

JOHN: James, I’m really worried about you. You always have such a bad cough.

JAMES: It’s because I smoke.

JOHN: Well, you’d better quit smoking.
 

BETTY: My kids are driving me crazy. They fight and scream a lot and really bug each other.

MARY: Why don’t you arrange for them to join a sports club? My kids get rid of a lot of their energy that way.
 

Here are some useful expressions for making direct suggestions:
 

I suggest that you …

Try …

I would …

If I were you, I’d …

You had better ---

You could …

Why don’t you …
 

2. Learning to Make Tactful Suggestions
 

There are occasions when you have to be very careful when making a suggestion. You don’t want to insult or offend the person. When this is the situation, we use ‘softer’ ways of making a suggestion – we are more tactful, and less direct.
 

Look at these dialogues which have tactful suggestions:
 

BOB: I’m very upset. My boss, Ms. Lewiston, is being unkind and unfriendly to me.

TIM: Don’t you think it might be a good idea to talk to her about it?
 

MR.HAYCRAFT: Again, your bank has made a mistake with my account. I’m really very angry. I think I’m going to move to another bank.

BANK MANAGER: Why don’t you come into my office and talk. Perhaps we could look at this together.
 

ANN: I don’t know what to do. I keep eating and eating but I want to lose weight! The problem is I am always so hungry!

BILL: Would you consider going to the doctor and getting some medical help?
 

Here are some expressions to use when you want to make a tactful suggestion:
 

Don’t you think it might be a good idea to …

Why not …

Perhaps you could …

You might want to …

One way would be to …

50 Expressions for Making Suggestions (from ‘strong’ to ‘mild’)