Advise, Recommend, Suggest: Which Verb to Choose - Linguix

First of all, let's cover the basics. Verbs “recommend,” “suggest,” and “advise” are all used in situations when someone is telling another ... Advise,Recommend,Suggest:WhichVerbToChoose BrettJohnson August14,2019 · 2minread Grammar Asitoftenhappens,theEnglishlanguagemightbeabittricky,especiallyfortheESLstudents.SomeEnglishwordshavemultiplemeaningsand,moreover,sentencepatternsassociatedwiththem.“Advisevs.Recommendvs.Suggest”isoneofsuchpuzzles.Theseverbscouldbefollowedbythenoun,gerund,pronounornoun,orevenuseinthesubjunctivemoodi.e.,withanounclausecontainingaverb! Yousee,thenumberofpossibleoptionsissignificant!Let’ssortthingsoutandunderstandwhenyoushoulduserecommend,suggest,andadvise. Whatthesewordsstandfor Firstofall,let’scoverthebasics.Verbs“recommend,”“suggest,”and“advise”areallusedinsituationswhensomeoneistellinganotherpersonwhattodo.Inmanycasesyoucanusetheseverbsinterchangeably.However,therearealsosomedifferencesintheirexactmeaningsandusagepatterns. Let’sbreakthisdown: Adviseisamoreformalverb,itisusedincorrespondingsituationswhenonepersongetsdirectionfromsomesortofprofessional(doctor,teacher)orsuperiorperson(manager,governmentofficial).Recommendislessformalandmorepersonal.Youuseitwhensuggestingsomethingbasedonyourownexperience.Suggestisthelessformalofallthreeverbs,youuseitwhentalkingaboutideas,opinion,etc. Guidelines  Themoreyoustudythesewords,themoredifferencesyouwillfind.Herearecommonguidelinesyoushouldknowtobealwayscorrectinthis“advise/recommends/suggest”puzzle. Suggestdoingsomething Youusethisforminthecasewhenthepersonsuggestingisalwaysinvolvedintheactivity.Thisformisoftenusedwithagerund. Example: Shesuggestedgoingforlunch. Inthisexample,thepersonisalsoabouttogoforlunchwithothers. Suggest(that)someone(should)dosomething  Inthiscase,thepersonsuggestingdoesnotmeanheorshewillparticipateintheactivity. HesuggestedthatIshouldgoandapplyforthisjob. Sometimes,however,thepersonmakingthesuggestionmightalsobeinvolvedintheactivity: Hesuggestedthatweshouldallgoforlunch. Important:theverb“recommend”followsthesamerulesas“suggest.” Recommendsomething/someonetosomeone Thisisa“recommend/suggest/advise+noun”pattern.Ifyouwanttoincludeinyoursentencethepersonwhothesuggestionisbeingmadeto,thenyoucanusethe“nounobject+to+person”pattern. Sherecommendedherdentisttome.  ESLstudentsoftenput“to+person”aftertheverbitself.Itisdonelikethisinmanylanguages,butthisiswronginEnglish. Wrong:Sherecommendedtomeherdentist. Suggestion+that+subject+baseverb Thisisthetrickiestpartofthetopic.Thestructurewhenthesuggestionverbisfollowedbyanounclauseiscalledthesubjunctivemood. Theexactpatternlooksasfollows:“verbofsuggestion+that+subject+baseverb.” Examples: Mycoworkerrecommendedthatshetakeataxihomefromtheoffice.Thesalesrepsuggestedthatheputthisofferonhold. Nowboostyourwritingskill GetLinguixforfree MorefromLinguixBlog Allposts→ Grammar September14,2022 Linguixvs.Grammarly:theResultsofGrammarCheckingBenchmarkingAnalysis 1minread Grammar August31,2022 HowMinorWritingErrorscanAffectCareerandRelationships:StoriesfromLinguixUsers 4minread Grammar May10,2022 10MistakesWhenCraftingaLinkedInIntroMessage 4minread