Meaning & use
making suggestions
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
The act of offering ideas or plans for someone to consider.
Grammar: Often used as a subject or after prepositions: 'Making suggestions is part of my job.'
Patterns
- making suggestions about something
- making suggestions for something
Making suggestions in a meeting can be intimidating for new employees.
She is very good at making suggestions without sounding pushy.
We spent the afternoon making suggestions for the new project.
Common combinations
- making a suggestion
- Can I make a suggestion about the schedule?
- making helpful suggestions
- The teacher was making helpful suggestions to improve our essays.
- making suggestions for improvement
- The report includes several suggestions for improvement.
Synonyms and how they differ
- proposing
- More formal and often implies a formal plan; 'making suggestions' is more casual and open-ended.
- recommending
- Stronger and implies you think it is the best option; suggestions are less forceful.
Word family
- suggest verb
- To offer an idea or plan.
- suggestion noun
- An idea or plan that is offered.
Commonly confused: making suggestions or advice?
making suggestions vs advice
Advice is uncountable and often about what someone should do; suggestions are countable and more about ideas to consider.
Practice
Which is a common way of making a suggestion?
Choose one answer.
'Why don't we...' is a standard way to make a suggestion. The other options are commands or statements, not suggestions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “making suggestions”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.