GIVING ADVICE

Here are some expressions often used in giving advice:

• Why don’t you…?

• What about…?

• You had better…

• If I were you…, I would…

• It would be better if…

• Maybe you should…

• Perhaps you could…

• You ought to…

Take a look at the dialog below:

A: I like my new office, but my co-worker is always smoking. I can’t stand it. How do I get him to stop?

B: You could just ask him.

A: It won’t work. I’ve already tried.

B: Well, what about talking to your boss about it. I’m sure he will work out a solution for both of you.

Here are some alternatives:

• Well, perhaps you could talk to your boss about it.

• If I were you, I would talk to my boss about it.

• Why don’t you talk about it to your boss?

How about or What about? – What’s the difference?

“How about …?”

Use “How about?” to give suggestion.

A: I’ve got the day off from work tomorrow. What should we do?

B: How about going to the cinema?

A: Nah. I don’t really feel like going out.

B: How about we just rent a DVD and watch it at home?

A: That sounds good.

“How about?” can be followed by verb-ing or by a pronoun and verb1.

• How about going to the cinema?

• How about we rent a DVD?

“What about?” is often used when someone is asking for an opinion to a choice.

• What about the green one? That looks pretty on you.

We can also use “What about?” to mention an objection.

A: Let’s spend the weekend in the city.

B: But what about my piano lesson on Saturday?

A: That’s no problem, just talk to the teacher and reschedule it.

“How about you?” or “What about you?”

“How have you been?” — “Good. A little busy with school. How about you?”

“Where do you work?” — “At a law firm. What about you?”

In this case, “How about you?” and “What about you?”are asking the same question back to the other person.