See what words you can come up with that use the following suffixes.

There are two ways which we can use 'recommend' and 'suggest':

I suggesttaking a holiday.
I suggest (that) you take a holiday.

I recommend going to bed earlier.
I recommend (that) you goto bed earlier.

Using imperatives to give advice

We can use imperative verbs + '-ing' to give advice. Let's look at some more examples using your fat friend!:

Start going to the gym.
Stop drinking so much coke.
Consider switching to brown bread and rice.
Try cycling to work.

· You ___ to leave as soon as you can.

ought
must
should
could

· They ___ fix that broken traffic signal.

have
try
ought
must

· You should start ___ for your future.

saving
saved
safe
save

· How ___ sending them some flowers?

about
should
try
must

· Try ___ your own lunch instead of buying it.

making
must
make
made

Giving advice and making suggestions are two different language functions, but in real life they often go together. Let’s see here some very common constructions you can use to give advice to a friend.

SHOULD You should go to the doctor, he’ll tell you what to do You shouldn’t go to bed so late, you need more sleep WHY DON’T YOU I know it’s difficult to find, but why don’t you look on the Internet? Why don’t you wait here for a moment, I’m sure she will be back very soon HOW ABOUT + ING (or YOU + bare infinitive) You look bored. How about going for a walk? We could go to the river. How about you stay here and I go and look for help?

MUST/HAVE TO [strong advice]
You must go to the doctor immediately, that looks serious.
You have to take her to that movie, she’s going to love it.

IF I WERE YOU (+ would)
If I were you, I’d send her an e-mail saying sorry
If I were you, I wouldn’t buy that book

YOU’D BETTER (not) + bare infinitive (colloquial often: YOU BETTER...)
You’d better not call her now, she must be too angry with you
You better come to my house and ask my father

YOU’D BE CRAZY (not) TO
That girl is wonderful. You’d be crazy not to love her
The house you showed me is so expensive. You’d be crazy to buy it.

IT’S HIGH TIME YOU (+ simple past)
You can’t be with that job all your life. It’s high time you started looking for a new job.
I think it’s high time we went home, it’s too late.

SUGGEST (+ that you (should) )
I suggest that you eat more vegetables
I suggest that you should take a holiday, you look so tired

IMPERATIVES (start, stop, try, consider...) + ing
Stop drinking so much coffee, it’s not healthy
Start going to the gym
Try talking to him, you may convince him
Consider buying a new bicycle and give the old one to your little brother

Notes: Advice is the noun, Advise is the verb
He always gives very good advice.
I advise you to buy the cheaper one
"Advice" is an uncountable noun, so you can’t say “an advice”, you must say “some advice” or “a piece of advice”

I’ll give you some advice, if you want to listen
That was only a piece of advice, not an order

TIP: many people don’t like getting advice if they haven't asked for it! To avoid giving the wrong impression, you can try some of these expressions:

I think you should tell your parents You could always… tell your parents Have you considered… telling your parents? Have you thought about… telling your parents? Perhaps we could… tell your parents In your position, I would… tell your parents You should perhaps… tell your parents It may be a good idea to... tell your parents Maybe you can... tell your parents

I think you shouldn’t tell your parents

Do you think it's a good idea to… tell your parents?
Are you sure it’s a good idea to... tell your parents?
I don’t know if it’s a good idea to... tell your parents
I don’t know about you, but I would never... tell your parents
Maybe you should think twice if you’re going to... tell your parents
I’m not so sure about... telling your parents
And, of course, we can also use the positive phrases in the negative:
You could always not... tell your parents
Have you considered not... telling your parents?
It may be a good idea not to... tell your parents
etc