Functional English: Making Recommendations

Hiya!
In this post we will move onto the topic of making recommendations and how we can soften our advice in order to seem less bossy.   There are quite a few phrases you can use for recommending somebody to do something. Watch these examples:
I recommend reading that book.
I recommend you to see that film.
I don't recommend you to see them again.
I don't think you should give her the ring there.
I really recommend the western Andalusian beaches.
You could take your John to the opera show tonight.
Oh, you must buy the latest Shakira CD!
Maybe I shouldn't get him a DVD. I should get him a CD instead.
You could perhaps think about buying a new PC.
You might want to change the layout.
You might like to change the format.
You could try taking the car to the garage.
What I would do is study all the lines by heart.

Note the sentence patterns after each expression: some will be followed by infinitive, some by a gerund and others by a noun phrase.

When asking for a recommendation, use any of these expressions:
Have you got any recommendations?
So what do you recommend?

Use "It's just..." to explain your recommendations, for instance:
You could perhaps think about changing the format. It's just that I think it needs a stronger image.
What I would do is change the format. It's just to give the page a bit more structure.


¡Hola!
En este artículo vamos a pasar ahora al tema de cómo hacer recomendaciones y cómo podemos suavizar nuestros consejos para que nos hagan parecer menos mandón. Hay unas cuántas expresiones que podéis utilizar para recomendar a alguien que haga algo. Observa estos ejemplos:
I recommend reading that book.  (Recomiendo leer ese libro)
I recommend you to see that film. (Te recomiendo que veas esa película)
I don't recommend you to see them again.   (Te recomiendo que no los vuelvas a ver)
I don't think you should give her the ring there. (No creo que debieras darle el anillo allí)
I really recommend the western Andalusian beaches.  (Recomiendo mucho las playas andaluzas occidentales)
You could take your John to the opera show tonight.  (Podrías llevar a tu novio esta noche a la ópera)
Oh, you must buy the latest Shakira CD!  (¡Oh, tienes que comprarte el último CD de Shakira!)
Maybe you shouldn't get him a DVD.  (A lo mejor no deberías regalarle un DVD)
You could perhaps think about buying a new PC.  (Quizás podrías considerar comprar un ordenador nuevo)
You might want to change the layout.  (Puede que quieras cambiar el diseño)
You might like to change the format.   (Si quieres puedes cambiar el formato)
You could try taking the car to the garage.  (Podrías probar llevando el coche al taller)
What I would do is study all the lines by heart. (Lo que yo haría es estudiarme todos los versos de memoria)

Tened en cuenta el régimen verbal que aparece detrás de cada expresión: algunos irán seguidos de infinitivo, algunos de gerundio y otros de un sintagma nominal.

Cuando se pide una recomendación, se puede usar cualquiera de estas expresiones:
Have you got any recommendations?
So what do you recommend?

Usad "It's just..." para explicar vuestra recomendación, por ejemplo:
You could perhaps think about changing the format. It's just that I think it needs a stronger image.
(Quizás podrías considerar cambiar el formato. Es que creo que necesita una imagen más fuerte)
What I would do is change the format. It's just to give the page a bit more structure.
(Lo que yo haría es cambiar el formato. Sólo para darle un poco de más estructura a la página)