English conversation tips | How to use ‘recommend’ & ‘suggest’ | Speak English with confidence

Do you use the verbs 'suggest' and 'recommend' correctly in your conversations?

Hello and welcome everyone. This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

The verbs 'suggest' and 'recommend' are great verbs  to use in your conversations and discussions.

But, I often hear my students use them incorrectly.

So, in today's lesson, I'm going to teach you three situations,

and then, end with an error correction exercise

to make you feel confident about using  'recommend' and 'suggest' in your conversations.

A quick reminder to download my free mini guide,

where I explain how you can use different listening activities

to improve your fluency and your confidence to speak English.

You will find the link to this download in the  description box.

So, now let's go over to the lesson

and find out how you can use 'recommend' and 'suggest' correctly,

starting with situation number 1.

Okay! Here we are!

This is the first situation.

This is where you recommend or suggest an action to someone else.

For example: Someone says to you:

We want to have dinner at the Korean restaurant tonight.

Now, you know that this restaurant is always full in the evenings.

So, you can share this information with them, and then make a recommendation.

So you can say:

They're always full in the evenings.

I recommend you book your table in advance.

Now, you can use 'that' to connect the two parts of your sentence:

I recommend that you book your table in advance.

It makes it sound more formal.

In spoken English, we usually drop 'that'.

Now, it's the same with the verb 'suggest'.

So, here we have the same situation.

Someone says to you:

My internet connection keeps dropping.

You have had this experience before.

You share that information, and then make a suggestion.

 You can say:

Mine did too before I changed providers.

I suggest you change your provider.

Again, you can use 'that' to connect the two parts.

Or, in a more informal conversation, you can drop it:

I suggest you change your provider.

Okay, let's look at common mistakes that I often hear in this situation.

So, remember we are recommending or suggesting an action to someone else,

and what I hear many many times are these sentences:

Let's have a look...

I recommend you to book your table in advance.

I recommend you booking your table in advance.

I suggest you to change your provider.

I suggest you changing your provider.

Now, they may sound correct to you, but they're not.

It's best to avoid these sentences.

What you're doing here... You're using either for example

the infinitive here or the gerund.

Avoid!

So, let's cross these out.

All you need to do is to say:

I recommend...

That's one part of the sentence.

And then, we start a new sentence:

...you book.

I recommend you book.

Remember the word 'that'

that connects the two parts.

But, we often drop it.

That's why you hear:

I recommend you...

It's not!

It's: I recommend you book.

So, get rid of the 'to' here.

Get rid of the 'ing' here.

Again, get rid of the 'to' here.

And, get rid of the 'ing' here.

Right! No gerund! No infinitive!

These are two separate phrases, clauses.

So, let's look at the correct sentences one more time.

You're recommending an action to someone else:

I recommend you book your table in advance.

I suggest you change your provider.

And, in a more formal situation, if you're writing, you can put the connective 'that' in your sentence.

Okay! That's for situation number 1.

Let's look at situation number 2.

In this situation, you are making a recommendation  or a suggestion.

You're recommending or suggesting an action still,

to the group.

You belong to this group.

This action will involve you as well.

So, let's look at the example.

So, someone says:

Let's have dinner at the Korean restaurant tonight.

And you say: Okay!

But you know that they're always full in the evenings.

So, now you want to make a recommendation for both of you or the group that's going to this restaurant.

 You can use the same formulation as the previous  situation and say:

I... So you're part of the group:

I recommend that we book our table in advance.

That's possible.

But, when you belong to the group that you're making the recommendation for,

we often use the gerund form directly:

I recommend booking our table in advance.

And, that's a better way of making this recommendation in this situation.

And, it's the same for 'suggest'.

So, here's our example:

You're recommending an action to the group that you belong to.

Someone says:

Our... Our internet connection keeps dropping.

You know you share this experience with them:

I know! I think it's our provider.

And, your choices are the same again:

I suggest we change our provider.

Or better:

I suggest changing our provider.

So, you can use the same formulation as before:

I suggest we change...

Or, go directly to the gerund.

Right!

So, that's for situation number 2.

Let's look at the common mistakes that I hear for this situation.

So, remember, now you're recommending your action to the group including yourself.

What I hear sometimes, which is a mistake is:

I recommend us booking our table in advance.

I suggest our changing our provider.

These words are unnecessary.

Go directly to the gerund:

I recommend booking our table.

I suggest changing our provider.

So, let's look at the correct sentences:

I recommend booking our table in advance.

And...

I suggest changing.

Let me underline that for you so you remember.

I recommend booking...

I suggest changing...

Right!

One little piece of information for you here.

If you want to make your recommendation or suggestion a bit more polite, a bit more formal,

you can add the word 'would'.

So you'd often hear:

'I'd recommend' or 'I'd suggest':

I'd recommend you book your table.

I'd suggest changing our provider.

Just a detail here for you.

Okay!

That brings us now to situation number 3.

In situation 3, you are not recommending an action to someone else or to the group,

but you're recommending something or someone.

For example:

The person has said to you:

We want to have some Asian food tonight.

And, your reaction can be:

I recommend the Korean restaurant.

If you want to make it more formal:

I'd... or I would recommend the Korean restaurant.

Or someone has said to you:

I need to change my internet provider.

And, you can respond by saying:

I recommend my provider.

And then, there are these nice expressions you can add:

I can recommend my provider.

Or: I can certainly recommend my provider.

They are optional.

So, remember, now you are recommending something or someone. Not an action!

So, let's have a look at what the common mistakes I hear are in this situation,

that is recommending something or someone.

I often hear:

I recommend you the Korean restaurant.

Or:

I can suggest my internet provider.

Now! First correction is: Don't use 'you'.

It's obvious you're talking to the person.

So, we don't need 'you', just go to 'I recommend',

and then, what you recommend.

I recommend the Korean restaurant.

The second correction we have to make here is to  avoid using the verb 'suggest' in this situation.

You never 'suggest' something.

You can only 'recommend' something or someone.

So, the verb needs to change to 'recommend'.

And...

That's it! Yeah:

I can recommend my internet provider.

Let's look at the correct sentences then, just to be sure you get this one:

I recommend the Korean restaurant.

I can recommend my internet provider.

Right!

We've got the three situations.

Let's look at a quick summary.

Situation 1 is recommending an action to someone else.

In this situation, use the following structure:

I... or I would... I'd... (to be more polite)

recommend or suggest you do something.

Add 'that' if you want to make it more formal or  if you're writing.

Situation number 2 is when you're recommending an action to the group that you belong to.

You are involved in the action.

Now, the best formulation is I... or I'd recommend... or  suggest doing something.

The gerund directly after your verb.

And, the third situation is recommending something or someone.

This time, it's not an action.

And then, you can only use the verb 'recommend'.

Never use 'suggest'.

And then, you can say:

I recommend...

I'd recommend... (a bit more polite)...

or: I can recommend...

You can even say: I can certainly recommend...

I can definitely recommend...

And then, you say what it is or who it is that you are recommending.

Okay! That's the end of the lesson.

We are now going to do some error correction exercises.

So, I've got four sentences for you with mistakes to correct.

Let's look at sentence number 1:

I suggest you to ask for a refund.

What's the mistake in this sentence?

I'm sure you've got this now:

I suggest you ask for a refund.

No infinitive:

I suggest you ask...

Let's look at the correct sentence to reinforce it:

I suggest you ask for a refund.

You can keep the 'that' in if you want.

Great!

Sentence number 2:

What's the problem here:

I wouldn't recommend us to cut our budget.

What do you think we need to correct here?

Okay! Two things:

This is an extra word we don't need:

I wouldn't recommend.

And, what comes after this?

Because it's for the group, you need to use the gerund form.

So, let's look at the correct sentence:

I wouldn't recommend cutting our budget.

If you want, you can use the other formulation.

It's longer:

I wouldn't recommend we cut our budget.

Or, I wouldn't recommend that we cut our budget.

That's why we prefer the first one.

It's shorter.

In English, the shorter the better.

Okay!

So, that's for this.

Let's look at sentence number 3:

Which fish dish do you suggest me?

How can you correct this sentence?

Again! There are two things you need to do:

The first thing is to change this verb.

Remember! We can't use 'suggest' when it's something.

Now, we're talking about a fish dish.

So: Which fish dish do you recommend?

And, we don't need to specify the person.

It's a conversation.

You know they know you're asking for the recommendation.

So, the correct sentence is here:

Which fish dish do you recommend?

If you want to make it sound a little more polite,

you can say:

Which fish dish would you recommend?

And finally, sentence number 4:

I'd recommend you consulting a dietitian.

What's wrong with this sentence?

That's an easy correction:

I'd recommend you consult...

Remember! Two separate sentences:

I'd recommend you consult...

Let's look at the correct sentence:

I'd recommend you consult a dietitian.

Or:

I'd recommend that you consult a dietitian.

If you want to keep 'that' in there.

Right!

That's the end of this lesson.

There are lots more English lessons and exercises on my YouTube channel,

and on my online course at

Anglo-Link.com.

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Thank you for watching,

and I'll see you very soon in my next lesson.

Goodbye for now!