{"id":111,"date":"2012-09-30T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monkeygrammar.org\/index.php\/2012\/09\/30\/grammar-of-spoken-english-2-suggest\/"},"modified":"2020-04-16T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T11:31:50","slug":"grammar-of-spoken-english-2-suggest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/grammar-of-spoken-english-2-suggest\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammar of Spoken English (2): Suggest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: This post is about how to speak better English<\/b> with regard to the verb ‘suggest<\/b>‘, one of the most common words that is used incorrectly<\/b>.  Instead of meeting the difficult term ‘gerund’, you<\/span><\/span> will ‘encounter’ the concept, the idea behind ‘suggest + verb + ing<\/b>‘.    <\/span>In a way, this post attempts to change the way you think about <\/span>verbs<\/b>, <\/span>sentences<\/b>, and of course, <\/span>English<\/b>.   <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>If you want <\/span>to be <\/span>successful<\/span> in your career, you must <\/span>make suggestions<\/span> <\/span><\/span>to your boss, your seniors, or your company. So you may say things like: <\/span>I suggest to enter the China market.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThe suggestion is a good one, right? But the grammar is bad. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n
I<\/span><\/td>\nsuggest<\/span><\/td>\nto enter<\/span><\/td>\nthe China market<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\nIf we cut the sentence into four parts (not with a knife of course), there is no problem with each part. However, there is a clash between <\/span>suggest <\/span>& <\/span>to enter.<\/span> <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n
I<\/span><\/td>\nsuggest<\/span><\/td>\nto enter<\/span><\/td>\nthe China market<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIn English, \u2018suggest\u2019 goes with a thing (or an activity), for example,<\/span> <\/span>The CEO suggested a plan.  <\/span>The human resources officer suggested a long holiday.<\/span><\/i><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
\n
A Person<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
An Action<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
A Thing<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The CEO<\/span><\/td>\nsuggested <\/span><\/td>\n\n
a plan.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The human resources officer<\/span><\/td>\nsuggested <\/span><\/td>\n\n
a long holiday<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n\u2018<\/span>To enter<\/b><\/span>\u2019 is <\/span>not<\/span> a thing (or an activity). But there is something we can do about it. We can <\/span>change \u2018enter\u2019 into a thing<\/span>. We\u2019ll show you how to do it, but first of all we have to do some Maths together.  <\/span>Can you do the calculation, ‘<\/span>Verb + ing =<\/span><\/span>‘ ? <\/span> Well,  d<\/span>on\u2019t try to do it! This is not real Maths but you may read the following two sentences: <\/span>We <\/span>shop<\/span> in Paris.  <\/span>We go to Paris for <\/span>shopping<\/span><\/span>.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>
\nThe <\/span>first \u2018shop\u2019<\/span> is an action but the second \u2018shopping\u2019 is an activity. The two words tell us a formula in English. Yes, you are right that there is Maths in English, but I promise it\u2019s going to be easy:  <\/span>The formula goes like this:<\/span> <\/span>an action<\/span> + <\/span>ing<\/span> = <\/span>a thing \/an activity<\/span>. <\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nExamples:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
an action<\/span><\/td>\n+<\/span><\/td>\n\n
ing<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
=<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
a thing \/ an activity<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lead<\/span><\/td>\n+<\/span><\/td>\n\n
ing<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
=<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
Leading<\/span> a team is never easy. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Design<\/span><\/td>\n+<\/span><\/td>\n\n
ing<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
=<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
The department will start <\/span>designing <\/span>the plan. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\nSo, you should say: <\/span>I <\/span>suggest <\/span>entering<\/span><\/span> the China market.  <\/span>(In grammar books, \u2018entering\u2019 is called a gerund, which is actually a noun in disguise.)<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: This post is about how to speak better English with regard to the verb ‘suggest‘, one of the most common words that is used incorrectly.  Instead of meeting the difficult term ‘gerund’, you will ‘encounter’ the concept, the idea behind ‘suggest + verb + ing‘.    In a way, this post attempts to change the way you think about verbs, sentences, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FreeGreatPicture.com-28771-interesting-material-of-commerce.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":783,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}