Hi guys. Welcome back to English with Max. In this video we're going to look at how
to use suggest and recommend. More specifically, we're going to look at the
grammatical structures that you need to use with these verbs. To start I'm going
to show you some sentences and you need to decide if they are grammatically correct.
The only one which is correct is number three.
If you're now a little bit confused, don't worry, because even advanced
students often find this a bit tricky. In this video I'll explain exactly why only
the third one is correct. We'll look at three different structures that you can
use with suggest and recommend. Before we get into that, I'd just like to quickly
remind you that if you would like to generally improve your grammar, I have a
video course on Udemy which covers 55 common mistakes made by English learners.
It also includes several quizzes so you can test what you've learnt. If you'd
like to receive my special discount for that, you'll find the link in the
description. If you really want to improve your vocabulary, I also send out
free advanced English email lessons every two weeks. If you'd like to
subscribe to those, you'll also find a link in the description. Okay, now back to
suggest and recommend. Firstly, if you're wondering what the difference is between
these two words, basically they mean the same thing. Recommend is a bit more
formal (we use suggest a lot more when we speak) and we also often use recommend if
we're suggesting something based on a personal experience. For example, if you
enjoyed a book, you might recommend it to a friend. You could say suggest there,
but normally we'd use recommend. We usually use suggest if we are expressing a
general idea. Anyhow, their meanings are very similar and grammatically speaking
they're used the same way. It's also important to note that you can use these
structures with every verb tense, so no matter which tense you use for suggest
or recommend, the rest of the sentence stays the same.
So it doesn't matter if you use I suggest, I suggested, I have suggested, etc. Okay, the
first structure we're going to look at is suggest or recommend followed by an
object noun. For example: He recommended this book. You simply put an object (here
it's "this book") after recommend or suggest. Some more examples:
The tour guide suggested the river cruise.
I don't recommend that doctor.
If you want to specify whom the suggestions is for, you can
put "to" plus the person after the object noun.
For example: He recommended this book to me.
You cannot say: He recommended me this book.
Or: He recommended to me this book.
You need to say: He recommended this book to me.
He recommended this book to me.
It doesn't have to be a pronoun like "me" or "him". It could be a noun.
For example: He recommended this book to Frank.
He recommended this book to his friend.
You can also put a gerund after suggest or recommend.
For example: I suggest going to the doctor.
It's not: I suggest to go to the doctor.
It's: I suggest going to the doctor.
She recommended taking a taxi.
We normally use this structure
if it is clear from the context whom the suggestion is for.
Unlike in the first structure, you cannot add "to me" or "to him" or "to Frank".
For example, you can't say: She recommended taking a taxi to him.
That's not grammatically correct.
It's just: She recommended taking a taxi.
The context will indicate whom the advice is for.
If you want to specify whom the suggestion is for, you need to use a
different structure. This is the most complex structure of the three.
Here suggest or recommend is followed by a "that" clause, which is in the subjunctive
mood. Yes, in case you thought that the subjunctive didn't exist in English, I'm
sorry to disappoint you. The good news is that the English subjunctive is easier
than, for example, the French or Spanish subjunctive. We also don't use it very often.
Okay, let's see an example. She recommended that he take a taxi.
After recommend we have "that", then the subject (here it's "he"), then a verb in the present
subjunctive. The present subjunctive is actually just the base form of the verb,
in other words, it's the infinitive without "to". Here that verb is "take".
Even though it's after "he", it's not "takes", and even though this sentence is in the past,
it's not "took". Like I said, we use the base form (take), and it's the same for all
the persons: that I take, that you take, that he take, that she take, that we take,
that they take. In informal language we often leave out the "that",
so you could also say: She recommended he take a taxi.
And be careful.
We don't say things like: She recommended him to take a taxi.
Or: She recommended to take a taxi to him.
You need to say: She recommended that he take a taxi.
Or: She recommended he take a taxi.
Let's see another example: I suggest that you go to the doctor.
I put the "that" in parentheses because,
like I said, it's optional. You could also say: I suggest you go to the doctor.
Like I said in point two, you could also say: I suggest going to the doctor.
But that's if it's clear from the context whom the advice is for. If you want to
make the "that" clause negative, you just need to put "not" in front of the base form.
She recommended that he not take a taxi.
I suggest that you not go to the doctor.
Before we finish, let's just see a few more sentences with this pattern.
They recommended that Frank stop drinking tequila.
I suggest that you not get drunk before your exam.
He has suggested that Frank never drink alcohol again.
I now recommend that you practise using these structures in the comments.
To help you, here are three problems. For each problem, write one sentence giving
advice. For example, for "Frank has a hangover" you could write:
I recommend these headache tablets.
Or: I recommend taking these headache tablets.
Or even: I suggest that Frank take these headache tablets.
Use your imagination!
I hope that was helpful. Don't forget to hit that big red subscribe button so you
don't miss any new videos, and if you have friends who are also learning
English, feel free to share this video with them as well. ;-) See you next time!
The cat...?