How to: Give advice

Giving advice: The following language is especially useful in email: 

Open the email: 

I was sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having.

or

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time at the moment.

Give advice:

I think it might be a good idea to ...

or

Have you thought of .....(+ ing)?

or

I think you should .....

or

What about ... (+ing)?

Explain why:

I think this would be the best option considering the circumstances.

or

I think it's better than .....

Close email:

I hope I've been of some help.

or

I hope I've helped a bit.

Beat it!

No, I'm not going to talk about the Michael Jackson song. Beat it in the sense of rhythm.... But what has this to do with learning English?

Did you know that English is a stress-timed language?

What this means is that the rhythm that we hear in English speech depends not on the number of words in a sentence, but the number of stressed syllables in those words.

Each word in English with more than one syllable has a stressed syllable. The stressed syllables are held longer and spoken slightly louder. 

We can show this by using the following simple system:

Ja-PAN     MAN-age-ment      SIM-ple        MU-sic      com-PU-ter     HO-li-day

Try it out.

How can this information help me?

Most students do not understand the concept of word stress until it is pointed out to them. In some languages, like French, words often have the same spelling, but the word stress in a different place but in English it is always in the same place. 

When you learn a new word, ALWAYS mark the stress. This means when you review the word, you will also remember how to pronounce it.

How to: Ask for advice

(The following language is especially useful in email)

Open the email: I'd like your advice about a problem I have. (Explain problem)

Ask for advice:
I was wondering if you had any ideas about ...?
or
What would you advise me to do?
or
Do you have any ideas about ....?
or
What do you think I should do?

Close email:
Please write back when you have the time and let me know what you think.
or
Please get back to me when you have the chance

Point out

IDIOM: Point something out

We use this expression when we want to show or talk about something so that others will notice it or become aware of it:

The teacher pointed out that I had made some spelling mistakes in my homework.
My friend pointed out that I am often late!

In business, we use this quite often in presentations:

'I'd like to point out that sales are improving considerably in Asia.'
'I'd like to point out that there are some problems in the report.'
'I hate to point out the obvious, but if we don't change something very soon, we will lose the client.'