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’)
