Grammar of Spoken English (2): Suggest

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, and of course, English.   



If you want to be successful in your career, you must make suggestions to your boss, your seniors, or your company. So you may say things like: I suggest to enter the China market.



The suggestion is a good one, right? But the grammar is bad.

I

suggest

to enter

the China market

If 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 suggest & to enter.

I

suggest

to enter

the China market

In English, ‘suggest’ goes with a thing (or an activity), for example, The CEO suggested a plan.  The human resources officer suggested a long holiday.

A Person	An Action	A Thing
The CEO	suggested	a plan.
The human resources officer	suggested	a long holiday

‘To enter’ is not a thing (or an activity). But there is something we can do about it. We can change ‘enter’ into a thing. We’ll show you how to do it, but first of all we have to do some Maths together.  Can you do the calculation, 'Verb + ing =' ?  Well,  don’t try to do it! This is not real Maths but you may read the following two sentences: We shop in Paris.  We go to Paris for shopping.

The first ‘shop’ is an action but the second ‘shopping’ 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’s going to be easy:  The formula goes like this: an action + ing = a thing /an activity. 


Examples:

an action	+	ing	=	a thing / an activity
Lead	+	ing	=	Leading a team is never easy.
Design	+	ing	=	The department will start designing the plan.

So, you should say: I suggest entering the China market.  (In grammar books, ‘entering’ is called a gerund, which is actually a noun in disguise.)