These two speakers are giving the same piece of advice to a friend. Compare the words that they use to make the suggestion:
Speaker A: You should go to a different hairdresser.
Speaker B: Have you thought of going to a different hairdresser?
How does speaker A sound to you? Direct? Bossy? Perhaps a little rude? How about speaker B? Polite? Kind? Careful not to upset someone? If you want to sound more like speaker B when giving advice to your friends, read this post. It will tell you simple ways to make your suggestions sound ‘softer’ and more polite.
The first thing to say is that suggestions that start with ‘you should…’ sound very definite. Of course, there will be times when you need to give people very definite advice, but for situations in which you want to suggest something in a gentler, less forceful way, it is best to avoid this phrase. There are a number of ways of making your suggestion sound less certain (and therefore more polite). For example, try making a suggestion by using one of the following question phrases: Continue reading “‘You could always email him’ – how to make suggestions sound nicer.”