Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 561

In this podcast episode, you will learn how to make suggestions clearly in English. We explain easy ways to accept suggestions and also how to say no politely. You will understand how to give reasons when you make suggestions. The episode also covers the right intonation to use when suggesting something. This lesson will help you speak English more confidently and naturally.

Perfect for B2 level learners, the explanations are simple and practical. Listen and practice to sound more like a native speaker.

Transcript

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Hi there, this is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language, to help you with your conversational skills, your business English skills, interview skills, whatever your goals are, we're here to help. So my podcast today is about suggestions and in particular what we want to talk to you about making suggestions in English. So we're going to look at it in a few different ways, look at some phrases for making suggestions, then look at the responses that you might make and we'll look at these both in terms of positive responses or responding positively and negative responses or responding negatively. As always, I'm going to go through them with you one by one and then we'll give you some examples and try to explain how you might use them. Okay, so here are some phrases when you want to make suggestions. And remember, when you're making suggestions, they're not obligations, okay? So the language will be a little bit different. So we're not telling somebody you must or you have to. So when we're using these type of suggestions and phrases, you're often going to use words like would and should, which are the classic modal verbs in those sorts of situations. So suggestions or recommendations. Okay, so here's a list of them. I think you should. Would you be interested in? I thought perhaps you might like. I was thinking it would be a nice change if, how or what about let's. Do you fancy? Shall we? We might as well. Okay, so there's some phrases for making suggestions. Let me give you the ending of them or some suggestions as to how you can use them. Okay, so let's take the first one. I think you should. I think you should really consider that job very carefully. I think you should go to the doctor if you're not feeling well. Now, when we're making suggestions, all of these phrases start with a very, very soft way. They're not, as I said, forcing you to do something. They're not making it an obligation. Okay, so they're quite indirect. I think you should. And should, remember, is never followed by the infinitive. So it's not, I think you should, too. I think you should go. I think you should consider. So it's the infinitive without to. Okay. I think you should consider seriously the options that you have. I think you should go to visit your mother because she's been in hospital now for a few days and she's probably lonely. Okay, so I think you should. Next one. Would you be interested in? Now, in this particular expression, interested in is usually followed by an ING verb. Would you be interested in going to the cinema later? Would you be interested in sharing a pizza? Would you be interested in reading a book on theology? Okay, whatever it might be. But usually the verb coming immediately after interested in is going to be in that ing. So we're not going to say, would you be interested in do this? Would you be interested in go? It has to be, would you be interested in going somewhere? Would you be interested in doing something? Would you be interested in meeting up later on for a coffee? Yeah. All of those would be good examples of would you? And again, it's a suggestion. So we're using here that modal verb would. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free try lesson and we'd be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Okay, next. I thought perhaps you might like, and after like, here again, it's the infinitive. I thought perhaps you might like to talk to your friend. You haven't spoken to him for a long time. I thought perhaps you might like to take a weekend break. We've been working so hard and with this pandemic, problems, it's a good time to get away, a good opportunity to get away. I thought perhaps you might like to buy me a nice diamond necklace for my birthday. You haven't bought me jewelry for a long time. Hint, hint, hint, hint. Okay, so you always have to listen to the hints from your better half. Okay, so I thought perhaps you might like to take a holiday. I thought you might like to paint the living room next week. If you're not going to do anything else, you've got a bit of time off work and we could do with a little bit of fresh paint around the place. Okay, I thought perhaps you might like to do something. And remember, I thought you might like, and then that infinitive too. I was thinking it would be a nice change if, okay? I was thinking it would be a nice change if we redecorated the bedroom. I was thinking it would be a nice change if we had Christmas on our own this year. We always seem to go to your parents or my parents, so why don't we start our own tradition and have Christmas in our own home? I was thinking it would be a nice change if we went abroad on holidays. We haven't been abroad for quite a few years. So it's always, I was thinking it would be a nice change if we did something, if we went somewhere, if we invited somebody. Okay. And here we've got thinking would, I thinking it would be. And again, because it's a suggestion, it's not must or need to or have to. Okay. It's I thinking it would be a nice change if. The next, how about or what about, you can hear both of them. So here, a little bit shorter than the other expressions we've used, but it's still polite and it's still indirect. So how about going to that new restaurant that they've been talking about? How about going for a walk in the park? It's a beautiful day. It's the beginning of spring. Why not? What about that restaurant in the high street? We haven't been there for ages. So they're just suggestions that people, as we say, throw out. How about this? How about that? What about this? What about that? And somebody is often giving lots and lots of suggestions. And at the end, they say, oh, I don't know. I've given you lots and lots of ideas here. Pick something. So how about staying in and watching one of our favourite movies? The weather's not so good, so we could stay in and just curl up on the sofa and have a really fun night. Okay, so how about this or what about that? Next, let's. Well here this leaves it open to lots and lots of options. Let's call around to see Mike and Susie. We haven't seen them for ages. Let's go crazy and go away for the weekend and not tell anybody. Let's go to the gym. I could do with a bit of exercise. Let's not go out anywhere tonight. Let's just stay at home. So it doesn't have to be something that you have to leave the home for. You can actually use this as a suggestion for staying in that warm fire glowing or the heat of the room. You don't want to go out into that cold winter or cold early spring evening you'd prefer to stay in. Let's do this or let's do that. Next, do you fancy? So here's a question mark and fancy means would you like to? So it's an informal way to say would you like to do this or would you like to do that? Do you fancy grabbing a pizza on the way home from work? Do you fancy going to the new movie? I hear it's really, really good. Your favorite actor's in it. What's his name? Do you fancy doing that? Do you fancy calling around to my friend Mary with me? She's probably got a boyfriend there and you know how you two like to talk about football. So do you fancy doing something? Do you fancy going? Do you fancy calling to see? Do you fancy coming with me? Do you fancy sharing? So again here we've got the I-N-G. So all of those verbs. Do you fancy going? Do you fancy doing? Do you fancy meeting? Do you fancy taking? Okay, so do you fancy spending? All I-N-G. Next, now here this is a little bit more formal. Shall we? Okay, so it's still used in the modern language. It's looked on as being very, very polite. It's always shall we or shall I. So it's not shall you or shall they. We can only use it with I and we. And you remember that from one of our much earlier podcasts. So we can say, shall we stay in? Shall we meet up with the rest of the gang? They're meeting up, they said, around 8 or 8.30 in the bar. Or shall we just tell them we're not interested? Shall we look at those brooches I brought home from the office? There's some really good deals on at the moment for cheap weekends or maybe even we could stretch it to a week. Shall we tell them we're not going to spend Christmas with them this year? So let them know early enough so we can wait for whatever problems they have. So shall we do this? Shall we do that? And then finally, we might as well. Well, we usually use might as well, or you can say we may as well. We might as well, we may as well, as when we're given up because really we've exhausted all opportunities. There's no real choice or something's gone wrong. And oh, well, we might as well just stay in. It's too late now. We haven't agreed on anything. You want to do this or I want to do that. So we might as well stay in. So let's think about something for tomorrow. Well, we might as well call around and see your mother. We're not doing anything else. It's Friday. She's bound to be in. So let's give her a quick call or send her a text and we can be there in half an hour. We might as well go to the movies on Saturday. You know how busy it gets on a Friday night, so let's go on Saturday. We might as well order in some food because I forgot to take the meat out of the freezer so it's not going to defrost in time. So let's pick something, order it, and it'll be here in 20, 25 minutes. So we might as well or we may as well. So we're using this when, well, we have no other choice. There is no other alternative. We've left it too late or we can't decide. So when somebody's making suggestions, we are going back and forth. So eventually, ah, we might as well stay in. We may as well call it a night. So if you're expecting friends to call around, but they weren't so sure. So you're waiting and you're looking at the watch. It's 8 o'clock, 8.30. Nobody's arrived, no message. We might as well just go to bed. I hardly think they're going to come at this time. Okay, so suggestions. So again, let me look at those phrases for making suggestions. I think you should. Would you be interested in? I thought perhaps you might like. I was thinking it would be a nice change if. How or what about? Let's. Do you fancy? Shall we? Or we might or we may as well. Okay, well the next part of this then is the responses. So somebody's made some suggestions to you. So how do you respond? Well, of course, you can respond positively or you can respond negatively, sometimes depending on the choice and sometimes depending on your mood. Okay, so let's look at the positive responses. Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Yes, that's not a bad idea. Brilliant. Count me in two. You're probably right. Sounds perfect. Oh, that would be lovely. Ah, it's a definite maybe from me. Okay, so how do we use them? Well, when somebody has made a suggestion and really you can't suggest anything better, or it's really something that you want to do, oh yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Let's do that. Or if you're a little bit indifferent about the suggestion, but you can't come up with anything better or an alternative, yeah, that's not a bad idea. Well, we haven't been to the cinema for a while. Let's go. What's on? So you want to know what the film is. Or if you just want a one-word positive response, brilliant. Well, why didn't I think of that? Yeah, look, let's go to that restaurant and why not give Mike and Sue a call. They might join us so we can make it four. Yeah, okay. Or if you want something a little bit more informal, yeah, count me in too. Yeah, I'm interested in that. So, you know, guys around the coffee table in the office or in the football club or at the gym, they're talking about going, having a few beers and perhaps going on to a club. Yeah, count me in too. I'd be interested. I'm game for that. So really informal type of responses. And somebody makes a suggestion and you think about it for a little while, not too long. Yeah, you're probably right. Yeah, I didn't think of that. I didn't look at that side of it. But yeah, I think you're probably right. Wow, sounds perfect. Ideal. Let's go there. A weekend away, we could really do with getting out of the city. You know, we've both been working really, really hard and it's just coming into spring. So a weekend in the country, a few nice walks. Hopefully the weather is good. Yep, sounds perfect. Well, do you want me to make the booking or will you do it? Oh, that would be lovely. Oh, yeah, that would be lovely. A really good idea. I mean, I've always dreamt of having my own Christmases. And, you know, it's good fun going to mum and dad's and it's good fun going to your folks. But really, it would be so lovely to have our own Christmas, the tree decorated and somebody cooking the turkey or, you know, just getting everything ready. And we can invite the folks if they want to come. Yeah, that would be lovely. And then that sort of in-between type of response. Yeah, it's a definite maybe from me. What do you mean it's a definite maybe? Well, you know, I'm going to have to go and check with the other half to see what she thinks. But I'm game and I'm sure Mary will agree too. So it's a definite maybe and I'll come back to you. Okay, so all of those are your positive responses when somebody's making a suggestion. That sounds like a great idea. That's not a bad idea. Brilliant. Yeah, count me in two. Yeah, you're probably right. Sounds perfect. Yeah, that would be lovely. Yeah, why didn't I think of it? It's a definite maybe from me. Okay, so what about then negative responses? We've had the positive responses, and of course, when you make suggestions, not everything is agreed immediately, and somebody has their own ideas, somebody wants to do their own thing, and there's always the person just wants to do it their way. So, how would we respond negatively? Let me give them to you one by one. I don't think so. I'm not sure that would be appropriate. No, I'm not sure about that. Well, I don't know. To be honest, it's not my cup of tea. No, not really. I'm not keen on that idea, or I'm not so keen on that idea. No, I'd rather not. I'm sorry, I really don't feel like it. Now, the common feature in all of these is the word no. And of course, if you want to respond negatively to something, you can just use the word no. N-O spells no. And everybody will get the message very, very quickly. But of course, like all things, it can appear a little bit rude. So we try to soften it a little bit by being indirect, as we spoke about before. So when we use the word no, we often follow it with something that will just soften the response. So the first one, I don't think so. So we're not just saying no, we're saying, I don't think so. I really, really don't think so. The more I think about it, that is just not for me. It's not something I'd be comfortable with. So you're trying to say no, but you're trying to say no nicely. I don't think so. It might mean that you're not quite 100% certain, but in reality, you're saying, no, I don't think so. Not really for me. Or something a little bit more formal. I'm not sure that would be appropriate. So it depends on the situation. It could be, you know, why don't we ask the guys if they want to go for a few beers and a meal? And you say, well, you know, I don't think that would be appropriate in the current climate because, you know, there's still a little bit of uncertainty about the pandemic and maybe the guys are still a bit uncertain about going out. So why don't we test the water? Why don't we make a little suggestion and see what they think? And if they're happy about it, well, perhaps we'll do it next week. So, but at the moment, I'm not sure it would be appropriate or it would be the appropriate thing to do. And again, if you want to be a little bit definitive on it and we want to say no, but we follow it with something to soften, no, I'm not sure about that. I think I'm going to have to think about that. Or as the Americans say, I'm going to take a rain check. So I'm not sure about that. Let me think about it and get back to you. You know, you're not actually going to go back to them with a positive response, but at least you've given them the indication that you might think about it. So that when you do come back and you're negative and say, no, I've thought about it, not for me. Well, then they're not going to be surprised. Okay. So, no, I'm not sure about that. And if you're completely indecisive or you're in the middle, you can't decide yes or no. Well, I don't know. I really don't know. I was hoping to spend the evening in at home. I was hoping to catch up on some work. I was hoping I might even just sit down and watch the telly. Yeah, I've been working flat out, so I don't know. Let me give you a call later. And if you just don't like it, you don't feel like it, and that real old English style response, to be honest, it's not my cup of tea. Meaning, yeah, not for me. I'm not going to do it. Don't waste your time. Don't try to persuade me. It's not my cup of tea. Yeah. So, what about a game of squash? And maybe then we go to the hang out with the guys and we go to a club. Ah, you know me. I'm not a club sort of guy. To be honest, it's just not my cup of tea. Squash, I hate it. Sweaty? Ah, no. I prefer to go for a good walk. So, to be honest, it's not my cup of tea. And then, when you just want to be affirmative with a negative response, no, not really. I'm sorry, not really. Not tonight or not this week. Or, you know, I'm really not up to it. I don't really feel like it. Not really. It's not for me. So, no, not really. Would you like to join us for a drink later on? A few of the guys are going after work. Nah, not really. I think I'll go home and I'll have an early night. If you're not keen on something, then we just literally use the expression, I'm not keen on that idea. I'm not sure why, but there's just something about it that doesn't really sit well with me. I think there's a better way to approach it. So it could be an idea about the summer holiday. It might be, let's go camping. We've never been. Yeah, but there's a reason why we've never been. We don't like it, neither of us. You know, we don't like sleeping rough. We don't like sleeping in sleeping bags. We don't like having to put up the tent and take it down. So it sounds cool, but with this weather, it'll probably pee rain all day. So I'm not keen on that idea. But we could go in the country and find one of those nice places with some log cabin by the lake. Now, that would be good. And we wouldn't have to roll up sleeping bags and put up tents. We can just leave the log cabin and it's there when we get back. Yeah. So that would be much better. So I'm not keen on the idea of camping, but I like the idea of a log cabin by the lake or in the pine forest. And again, if you have an alternative choice or there's something you really want to do, then the response would be, no, I'd rather not. I'd rather not waste my time. Yeah. I'd rather not waste my money on that play. I just don't understand it. And I really am not a Shakespearean fan. So I'd rather not. I'd prefer to do something else. I'd rather not spend my evenings in the office. I'd prefer to go home. And, you know, working remotely is a much better idea. So I'd rather not work any longer than I have to. And then finally, apology. I'm sorry. I really don't feel like it. So you're offering the apology before you give the negative response. Look, guys, I'm sorry. I really don't feel like it. I just want to go home. I want to chill out. Anyway, Sue's been on at me that I don't spend enough time at home. So I think this wouldn't be such a good idea. So I'll go home, get a few brownie points, yeah, and perhaps the next time. So the moment, sorry, I really don't feel like it. Okay, so negative responses to suggestions or recommendations. I don't think so. I'm not sure this would be appropriate or that would be appropriate. No, I'm not sure about that. Well, I don't know. I really don't know. To be honest, it's not my cup of tea. It's not what I want to do. I wouldn't get any enjoyment from it. No, not really. I'm not keen on that idea. I can tell you, I'm not keen on that. No, I'd rather not. Not this time. I'd rather not. And then finally, I'm sorry. I really don't feel like it. Okay, so that particular podcast covered all the issues that I was talking in relation to making suggestions. So the type of phrases you use when making suggestions. And again, remember, they're not obligations. There's no need for must or you have to. It's about, I think you should, or what would you think about this. So they are gentle suggestions. And often then we're using indirect language to introduce them. And I've given you then details of how you would respond both positively and negatively. Okay, well, that's the end of this particular podcast. And as always, I hope you've enjoyed it. And if you want to contact me, well, then you can do so on www.englishlessonviSkype.com. Always happy to hear from you and always willing to listen to some suggestions. And if there's somebody out there that wants some English help for interviews, whatever it might be, give them our contact details and we'd love to hear from them. Okay, as always, thanks for joining me. Join me again soon.