Learn English Online: How to Make Suggestions in English

There are many ways to make suggestions in English. Here are three of the most common ones. Why don't you try them out in your next English conversation? 

1) Why don’t we / you / I + base form of the verb*

• Why don’t we stop paying our office lease and just work from home?

• Why don’t I drive you to the airport on Friday?

• Why don’t we find a new supplier for our packaging?

• Why don’t we have a Zoom chat on Thursday at 9?

* Note: The base form of the verb is the verb without any endings. Examples of verbs in the base form are: run, eat, play, go, find

2) How about + -ing form of the verb

• How about letting our employees work from home as often as they want?

• How about requiring all of our customers to wear masks?

• How about giving all of our employees a generous holiday bonus?

3) Let’s + base form of the verb

• Let’s brainstorm ideas for new products.

• Let’s work on the project tomorrow.

• Let’s wait and see what happens before hiring any new employees.

• Let’s not plan any international travel for the next year.

If you find this content useful, be sure to check out our online English courses. Register at English Academy and get the first lesson of each course free! 

Let's Learn Some Business English with a Story about Jesus (the Brand)

An advertisement for Jesus Jeans
(It looks like this model could have 
gone for the next size up!).

No, this is not going to be a post about religion. It's going to be a post to help you improve your Business English (and your legal English). But we are going to be talking about Jesus today. That's because an Italian clothing company has trademarked the name "Jesus" and uses it on its Jesus Jeans. It's now fighting with other clothing companies trying to use the name Jesus too.

In conversational English we sometimes say "Jesus!" to express anger or outrage (or the shortened "Jeez!"). Some of the people in the newspaper article we are going to look at today are definitely saying "Jesus!" They are very unhappy that one company is not sharing the "Jesus" name. Who would have though that dozens of clothing companies would choose "Jesus" as their brand name? And then start fighting about it? All of this is not in the spirit of Jesus himself, but it does make for interesting reading (and English study!).

Let's take a look at the newspaper article, which is entitled "If You Take These Jeans' Name in Vain, Prepare to Meet Their Maker" and is from the Wall Street Journal. The expressions we will study are in blue.

Inspired by his time leading a singles ministry in Virginia Beach, Va., Michael Julius Anton came up with an idea for a clothing line that he thought was catchy and unique—"Jesus Surfed." He was on good ground with "Surfed." But when he went to register the trademark, he found someone had beaten him to Jesus.

In a branding coup of biblical proportions, an Italian jeans maker persuaded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2007 to register the word "Jesus" as a trademark, giving the company exclusive rights in America to sell clothing bearing the name of Christianity's central figure.

Since then, the owner of the trademark, Jesus Jeans, has clamped down on Jesus-themed apparel, pitting its litigators against more than a dozen other startup clothing lines it claims appropriated "Jesus" without the company's blessing. The company doesn't have a trademark on images of Jesus, just the word.

Before taking on Jesus Surfed, Jesus Jeans objected to "Jesus First," "Sweet Jesus," and "Jesus Couture," among others, which abandoned their trademark efforts. In some cases, when met with resistance, Jesus Jeans warned that it could sue for damages.

Now let's look at the definitions of vocabulary:

(to) come up with – to think of

catchy – memorable, appealing (Note: You will often heard the phrase "catchy tune," meaning a song or melody that stays in your head and is fun to sing, though eventually it might drive you crazy)

on good ground – safe with (Note: this terms first appeared in the Bible, which is probably why the author of this newspaper article chose to use it in a story about Jesus: Here is a quote from Luke 8:15, King James Bible: But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.)

(to) register a trademark – to formally register a symbol (name, logo, etc) for a product with a governmental patent office (in the USA, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO)

(to) beaten someone to – to do something before somebody else has a chance (in this case, Jesus Jeans beat Jesus Surfed to register the "Jesus" trademark)

of biblical proportions – great; having big consequences; large in scope (Note: This often refers to natural disasters -- Example: A wildfire of biblical proportions swept through California and destroyed hundreds of houses). Biblical is the adjective form of Bible, so here we have a play on words.

(to) clamp down on – to get strict about

(to) pit someone against – to put someone up to fighting someone or something

blessing – two definitions (which is what makes this word choice another play on words here): 1) approval and 2) a favor or gift bestowed by God (Note: there are some other definitions of this word also)

(to) meet with resistance – to face one's objections to something 

(to) sue for damages – to take someone to court and try to get money (or other compensation) from them for harming one's business

I Love Business English: in Honor of Valentine's Day

Pam and Jim from the Office. An example of a
successful office romance.

In honor of Valentine's Day, I've chosen an article on workplace romances to help you improve your Business English. Ahhh, the workplace romance. We all have stories of love at the office. I remember when an old boss of mine disappeared for several days in Europe immediately following an official business trip. Coincidentally, a young assistant at the office was also in Europe for those same three days!

An old friend of mine fell in love during a summer internship. She ended up leaving her husband. The man she fell in love with left his wife. They now have children and are, as far as I know, happily married. So sometimes the office romance does end happily (even when it starts out as "an affair," because one or both of the love-birds is married).

Now, let's get down to business and look at our article for today. It's called "When Cupid Visits the Office, Rules Can Cut Risks" and it is from the Wall Street Journal. We will look at an extract from the article first, with words and phrases to study highlighted in blue.

Companies by now are well-acquainted with the hazards of workplace romance. But, if recent incidents are any indicator, they still find it tricky to put a lid on office passions.

Some companies have attempted to regulate the romantic sparks that fly between co-workers, mindful of the potential legal fallout.

Still, even the best-crafted rules can't guard against workers who follow their instincts instead of consulting the employee handbook.

Inappropriate relationships can topple careers, and allegations of unwanted attention or favoritism can cost companies millions of dollars and land businesses in the headlines for all the wrong reasons…

Lawyers say companies that do lay out ground rules for dating may be able to head some lawsuits off at the pass—or at least curb corporate liability should matters end up in court.

"It's not just about warding off or fending off a claim of harassment. You also don't want to create the kind of environment or perception that that's a way to get ahead," said David S. Baffa, an employment lawyer and head of the workplace-compliance practice at Chicago law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Now let's look at the highlighted words and phrases:

(to) put a lid on – to stop; to stop something from increasing. This is often used to discuss spending. For example: Expenses are getting out of control. We need to put a lid on spending.

sparks fly / make sparks fly / when sparks fly – this refers to the reaction between two people. Here, the reference is to "romantic" sparks -- in other words, two people attracted to each other. Taylor Swift has a popular love song called "Sparks Fly" (¯Sing it: 'Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile'¯). Also, note that the sparks flying can refer to anger between two people. For example: Doug and Marie disagree on everything. If they're both at the meeting, sparks will fly.

fallout – consequences; bad results of a situation (in this case, the "legal fallout" refers to the lawsuits or legal troubles that may happen following an unsuccessful office romance)

(to) topple – to cause to fall (in both the figurative and the literal sense: when you stack blocks on top of each other and the tower gets tall, you put one more on and the whole thing topples over).

ground rules – basic rules; rules that everybody should be know and follow (Note: I've never worked at a company that laid out the ground rules for dating. All the employee manuals I've seen are pretty boring -- how many days in advance to ask for a vacation day, insurance policies -- nothing so interesting as How to Behave if You've Fallen in Love with a Co-worker).

head something off at the pass – to stop something from happening (in this case, to stop a lawsuit from happening).

(to) curb – to reduce (This verb is also often associated with spending.Example: Money is tight. We need to curb spending).

(to) ward off – to stop something from happening; to hold something off (This phrasal verb is often associated with illness. Example: Many people at my office are sick right now. I'm doing my best to ward off illness).

(to) fend off – to stop something from happening (Note that this is very similar in meaning to "ward off").

(to) get ahead – to advance in one's career (Yes, one way to get ahead may be to become romantic partners with the right person in the organization -- but the lawyer in this article says the company should not create an atmosphere where people think that).

Y I hope you've enjoyed this Valentine's Day lesson. If so, check out More Speak English Like an American, which is full of more useful idioms and vocabulary for Business English. And office romance, too!

Study Business English with this Mini-Case Study on Starbucks

Starbucks is "rolling out" new stores
in China.

Did somebody say "coffee?" I am a huge fan of all things caffeinated -- that would be coffee, followed by tea, and let's not forgot chocolate (the darker the better and I currently working on a 90% cocoa dark chocolate bar, very delicious!). So when I opened the Wall Street Journal today and saw an article about Starbucks expanding into China, I decided to grab a cup of coffee and turn the story into a short business English lesson for this Blog's 12 official followers (thank you, loyal readers!) and the hundreds of others who visit this blog to improve their business English.

The article is entitled, "Starbucks Plays to Local Chinese Tastes." Here's the piece of the article we will expore, with the target vocabulary highlighted in blue:

After nearly 14 years of working to persuade China to buy into its foreign coffee culture, Starbucks Corp. is aiming to become more Chinese as it plans a rapid expansion in the country. Belinda Wong, president of Starbucks China, said in an interview that Starbucks aims to roll out 800 new stores in the next three years to add to its existing fleet of 700...

The company aims to capture a larger market by going more local and applying its cultural insights, Ms. Wong said. For instance, whereas kiosk-sized stores work well in the U.S., where office workers grab bacon-gouda sandwiches to go in the morning on the way to work, Starbucks has learned that Chinese consumers value space and couches on which to relax in the afternoons.

The coffee company is adding some stores that are nearly 3,800 square feet and can seat consumers who come with groups of friends and business partners. Starbucks also has discovered that Chinese tastes for coffee go only so far. It plans to introduce new Chinese-inspired flavors, building on existing favorites like red bean frappuccinos …

Businesses that have failed to grasp the local culture, importing alien models, have fallen out of favor. In September, Home Depot Inc. closed all seven of its remaining big-box stores in China after years of losses, having discovered that the do-it-yourself home improvement model doesn't work well in a do-it-for-me Chinese culture.

Now let's look at the vocabulary highlighted in blue:

(to) roll out - to introduce (often a product or service, in this case a retail store). Wow, with this "roll out," Starbucks will more than double the number of stores it has in China. And you thought there were a lot of Starbucks in Manhattan!

(to) capture a larger market - to get more customers (In this case, to get more people in China to switch to a visit from Starbucks coffee from whatever coffee house, tea house, or other place they are currently visiting).

(to) go only so far - to have limitations (In this article, it means that the Chinese customers do not have an unlimited thirst for just plain coffee. If Starbucks is going to sell them more drinks, the company needs to figure out what their tastes are and create drinks based on them -- hence the red bean frappuccion (whereas in the USA, you can get a Caramel Brulée Latte, which I am pretty sure is not on the menu at Starburcks in Shanghai!).

(to) fall out of favor - to stop being popular; to become unpopular. (In this case, they are talking about the fact that the "global strategy" is no longer as popular and effective as it used to be. With a "global strategy," companies typically treat the world as one big market and have little or no variation in products or services across the various countries).

do-it-yourself - as the word suggest "Do it Yourself!" as in, buy all the stuff you need for your home improvement project and do your own construction work -- as in, re-model your own kitchen, re-tile your own bathroom floor, or install your own new toilets. This is often abbreviated "DIY".

-----

To summarize this article, Starbucks is going to roughly double the size of its business in China. And instead of replicating what works in the United States, the company has figured out how to customize its offerings to suit the tastes of the Chinese consumer. That means drinks that appeal to them and their native cuisine (red bean frappuccinos, Hainan chicken and rice wrap) and plenty of space to hang around on a couch while drinking them. The company is also taking steps to attract non-coffee drinkers. Here's a closing quote from the article, in which we hear from an English teacher in China:

The company is aiming to cater to noncoffee drinkers like Cheng Xiaochen, a 27-year-old English teacher who hates coffee but occasionally meets his students and business partners at Starbucks in the afternoon. "It's a good place to meet people," said Mr. Cheng. "But the coffee is so bitter it tastes like Chinese medicine." Mr. Cheng said he sticks to mint hot chocolate and looks for other sweeter flavors.