1

Advanced

Business WritingAdvanced

Session 6: Making Suggestions and Giving Advice

2

Advanced

In this session, you will:

• Learn how to make formal and informal suggestions.

• Learn how to give advice and warnings.

Learning Objectives

3

Advanced

Study the expressions used to make formal and informal suggestions. Pay close attention to the grammar used in each type of suggestion.

Making Formal and Informal Suggestions

Formal Informal

I would suggest (that) you call him.May I suggest (that) you call him?

You could call him?How about calling him?Why don’t you call him?We could call him?Let’s call him.Let’s not bother him.

4

Advanced

Advanced

Let’s Practice

Complete each email below with the correct formal or informal expression to make a suggestion. Explain how you identified the

email as formal or informal, and what grammatical clues you used to select the correct expression. If you need to, refer to the table in the previous slide.

1. Dear Ms. Dow, Thank you for inviting me to be part of your panel. I’m afraid I have a previous engagement and will be unable to participate. If you are looking for another speaker, __________ invite Alison Yu. Best regards, J.R. McPhee

2. Olivia, I’d like to get together to discuss the supply chain issues. How about tomorrow? I’m free after 2:00. __________ not wait too long to do this. AnneMarie

3. Hi Olivia, Yes, I can make the meeting. One suggestion for the agenda: __________ ask Matthew to report on the conference he attended.

4. Hi Olivia, I have a conflict and can’t make a meeting at 10:00. Neither can Dave. __________ have it later in the day? Matthew

5. Hi Olivia, I’ll be there. It would be good to have Edgar Ramos there, too. __________ inviting him to the meeting? Philippe

5

Advanced

Study some common ways of giving advice and making suggestions.

Giving Advice with Should and Ought to

Grammar Rules Examples

Use should or ought to + the base form of the main verb.

Use should + not + (verb) to give negative advice.

You should try it.You ought to try it.

We should not wait any longer.

You can soften your advice with an introductory word or phrase, such as Maybe, I think, I believe, In my opinion, or, If you ask me.

Use a comma after In my opinion or If you ask me.

I think you should try it.I believe you ought to try it.Maybe you ought to try it?In my opinion, you ought to try it.If you ask me, you should try it.

6

Advanced

Here are some common expressions to use when giving advice or when giving a warning.

Make sure that your language isn’t stronger than you mean it to be. For example, use had better only when you want to give someone a warning.

Other Ways to Give Advice

Common Expressions Give a Warning

If I were you, I would try it.What I would do is to try it.What you should probably do is try it.

You had better do it now . . .You had better not wait . . .( . . . or something bad will happen.)

7

Advanced

Complete each sentence below to give advice and/or to give a warning.

1. What I __________ is ask everyone to suggest items for the agenda.

2. You __________ to send everyone the agenda before the meeting.

3. If you__________ , you ought to put this on the agenda.

4. If I __________ you, I would start the meeting with introductions.

5. We __________ not spend more than 15 minutes on this topic.

6. In my__________ , you should limit the meeting to one hour.

7. What you should __________ is put this on the agenda for the next meeting.

8. You __________ come to the meeting tomorrow morning.

Let’s Practice

8

Advanced

The coach and the learner take turns using the expressions to turn each of the ideas below into advice for colleagues.

[1] reschedule the meeting for another day

[2] begin the meeting with introductions

[3] ask everyone to introduce themselves

[4] ask someone to take the minutes of the meeting

[5] get everyone to brainstorm

[6] include someone from marketing in the discussion

[7] make a decision soon

Apply It!