318 CHAPTER 6. LANGUAGE PATTERNS
Recommending, using past tense +
If we want to make a recommendation, there are various direct and indirect
ways of doing some. One of the most common approaches uses a verb in
plain past tense, paired with , which creates a construction that
essentially says “It would be beĴer if you [verb]”.
A:
B:A: ”(My) girlfriend is angry with (me) because (I) was late. What
should (I) do?”
B: ”Well, wouldn’t it be sensible (literally: good) to apologise (to
her)?”This kind of recommendation is fairly direct, and thus some care
must be taken in making sure that the relation you have to whoever you
make a recommendation to allows for this level of directness.
Offering your opinion using -
A less direct way of recommending something is by offering your own
opinion. Using a hypothetical conditional paired with your own opinion
on how good or bad this situation would be is a less direct way to suggest
a course of action to someone. For instance:
A:
B:A: ”Oh no, I’ve been writing mistakes all over the place.”
B: ”Well, it won’t be that big of a deal if you just fix them?”While this is of course still reasonably direct in the sense that you’re
imposing your own opinion on someone, it is less direct than the previous
past tense +.
Asking about an option using -
A truly indirect way of making a suggestion is by offering it as an option,
without actually saying whether you think it’s the right course of action or