Giving Advice - Short Reading Activity - Entry 3/Level 1

1. When you have a problem, who do you normally go to for advice? Why do you turn to them? Is there anyone you know who gives bad advice?

2. Two people, Michael (A) and Sophie (B), find themselves in difficult situations with their personal lives. They have written letters to Lisa, who gives people advice. Read about their problems below. What advice would you give them?

3. What do you think about their problems? Are they serious or can they be solved easily? What advice would you give them?

4. Now, read Lisa's replies to Michael and Sophie and do the following things:

a) Decide if you agree with Lisa's advice for each situation. Why/why not?

b) Make a note of what language and expressions are used in the letters which give advice.

c) If you find new words which you don't know, write them down and look up their meanings in a dictionary.

5. Have you completed all of the things in question 4? As you can see, both of Lisa's letters contain various ways we can give advice.

Here you can see some of these:

6. Now, we're going to review some of the other ways we can give people advice, when writing or speaking.

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Answers:

So we can use:

Why don't you + base verb: e.g. Why don't you talk to your friend and tell her how you feel?
Have you thought about + gerund: e.g. Have you thought about talking to your friend?
You had better/ you'd better + base verb: e.g. You'd better talk to your friend!
2nd Conditional (If + past simple, ... + would/could): e.g. If I were you, I'd (I would) talk to your friend! OR It would be a good idea if you talked to your friend.
Modal verbs. Ought to means should, but it is more formal. Ought not to = shouldn't. e.g. You ought to talk to your friend!

7. Now we've seen some different ways we can give advice, I need your help! Below are some of my problems. Think about what advice you would give me, using the expressions we've looked at.

You can write the advice in your notebook or practise saying it out loud.

Practice

Give me advice:

1. I lost my house keys today when I was at the supermarket. I can't get into my house! What should I do?

2. I’m a very neat and tidy person but my flatmate is so messy! He always leaves dirty dishes everywhere and I’m so sick of it. Help!

3. I was at the Doctor's at an appointment and she spoke quickly, and I didn't understand exactly what she said. What would you do if you were me?

4. I accidentally missed my bus stop and went too far. I'm lost now. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

5. I forgot my friend's birthday and now he's upset. What do you think I ought to do?

6. I am in the supermarket but can't find the items I need anywhere. What should I do?

Thank you for your help!