Imagination, Survival and "Should": The Language of Advice and Possibility

It's easy to see that we give advice all the time, no matter what language we speak: when we're helping friends in our personal lives, or when we're making a report in the business world - even in newspapers and magazines.
When we give advice, we also look to the future. What's the best thing to do? What would happen if we chose one action instead of another?

You probably know how to give advice in a simple way, using "should". If you're a little more advanced in English, you know how to use conditionals (sentences with "if") to talk about the future. Here, we'll learn how to really improve our fluency by learning new, more natural ways to do both...

Our Facebook page recently gave an interesting and dangerous situation...

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Then we asked: “If you were in this situation, how would you survive?” We offered an answer in a long text.

Post by English42.

Hopefully, you saw in the Facebook post that
a) is the best idea,

b) is a bad idea, and

c) is the worst idea.

The new expressions in the text tell you this.

EXERCISE 1
Let’s look at the text again. We’ll see exactly which phrases are new. These phrases will be in bold, and they will go into a certain category:

1. Phrases which say “this is a good idea” / “you should”

2. Phrases which say “this is a bad idea” / “you shouldn’t”.

3. Phrases which express probability (“This could happen”)

Read the text, and then decide which category they belong to...

HELPFUL VOCABULARY
[This vocabulary is not part of our lesson, but understanding them will help you understand the text]

To collapse – to fall down, unconscious, because you are sick or tired

To hold off – to delay (always followed by an –ing verb or a noun: “Hold off driving to the airport”; “We held off the game until he arrived.”)

Altitude sickness – also known as acute mountain sickness – can affect almost anyone. Your health or fitness doesn’t matter:  if you climb higher than 4700 metres, there’s a fifty-fifty chance you will become sick.

It’s a common mistake to take a paracetemol or asprin. Painkillers like these will make your blood thinner, and the chances are good that your sickness will go away – but it’s not a good idea. It’s not likely to work in the long-term.

Unless you take a drug before climbing, AMS won’t just go away. If you climb further, your symptoms will almost certainly get worse.
So, under no circumstances should you continue climbing. There’s a fifty-fifty chance the AMS will cause your brain to “freeze”. If this happens, you’ll almost certainly collapse, and your chances of surviving are slim.

Your best bet is to turn around. If you have been climbing for a long time, this is difficult to do – but your survival is guaranteed. It’s a good idea to hold off climbing for a day or two.

Now that we’ve identified the phrases (in bold), we can see which category they go into. We can also tell the difference in meaning between phrases which are in the same category.

Some advice is expressed general, some is expressed strongly.

When we talk about probability, we have three categories, depending on the phrase:

If you’re interested in using these phrases, you can study each phrase here.
Or, if you're feeling confident, you could go to the bottom of the page, where a new exercise is waiting for you!

1. Phrases which say “this is a good idea”/ “you should”

“Your best bet is to turn around.”

This phrase means, literally, “this is the best thing you can do”.
The phrase is always followed by an infinitive verb (a verb with “to”).

EXAMPLES:

(If you want to pass the driving test) Your best bet is to practice in your car.

(If we want to make a profit this year) Our best bet is to advertise.

“It’s a good idea to hold off climbing for a day or two. ”

This is a nice, general alternative to “you should”. We’re saying “This is a good idea – take it or leave it.”
The phrase is always followed by an infinitive verb (a verb with “to”).

EXAMPLES:

It’s a good idea to bring sunscreen to the beach.

It’s a good idea to wash your hands before dinner.

2. Phrases which say “this is a bad idea” / “you shouldn’t”

“under no circumstances should you continue.”

English speakers understand that this is the strongest way to say “you shouldn’t”. Use it carefully! It means, literally, “you shouldn’t do this in any situation”.
The phrase is followed by “should”...
...then a subject (person/thing)...
...and finally an infinitive verb without “to”.

EXAMPLES:

Under no circumstances should you drink and drive.

Under no circumstances should the sick man leave the house.

“It’s a common mistake to take a paracetemol or aspirin.”
This phrase, literally, means “many people think this, but it’s wrong”. In other words, it’s a bad idea.
It is always followed by the infinitive verb (verb with “to”) – never use an –ing verb.

EXAMPLES:

It’s a common mistake to bring summer clothes to the UK.

It’s a common mistake to stand under a tree in a storm.

3. Phrases which express probability (“This could happen”)

“your survival is guaranteed.”

If something is “guaranteed”, that means it will definitely happen. Here, “guaranteed” is a passive verb.
Therefore, to complete the passive, we must put a subject before it (e.g. “A man was shot.”). Here, the subject is “your survival”.

EXAMPLES:

Victory is guaranteed (in Federer’s tennis game).

A refund is guaranteed (if you don’t like our product).

“your symptoms will almost certainly get worse.”

This phrase means that something probably will happen. Here, the probability is 90%, so this phrase is even stronger than “the chances are good”.
We insert this phrase in a sentence with “will”, and it changes the meaning a little.
For example, the sentence “He will pass the exam” is a prediction: I’m sure he won’t fail. When I change this sentence to “He will almost certainly pass the exam”, I’m expressing a small doubt I have – but I’m still confident.
This phrase can also be used to give advice, just like we did in the text. We said “If you continue climbing, your symptoms will almost certainly get worse”. This is an indirect way of saying: “Don’t continue climbing.”

EXAMPLES:

The politician will almost certainly become president.

You’ll almost certainly freeze when the sun goes down (so bring your coat).”

“the chances are good that your sickness will go away”
This phrase means that something will probably happen.
It is always followed by a sentence with “will”.

EXAMPLES:

The chances are good that it will rain today.

The chances are good that the team will win.

“if you climb higher than 4700 metres, there’s a fifty-fifty chance you will become sick.”

This phrase means that the possibility is 50%.
It is always followed by a sentence with “will”.
It can also be followed by “of”+[noun]

“It’s not likely to work”
This phrase means that something probably won’t happen.
It is always followed by the infinitive verb (verb with “to).
You can replace “it” with a person, describing something that person probably won’t do.

EXAMPLES:

It’s not likely to be sunny today.

He’s not likely to arrive before 9am.

“your chances of surviving are slim.”

This phrase can be shortened to “Your chances are slim”, which means “you probably won’t succeed.”
In a more general way, if we say “The chances are slim”, we mean “it probably won’t happen”. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. (Think of the difference between, “The chances of success are slim.” and “The chances of failure are slim.” They both use the same phrase, but they have good and bad meanings.)
To use the long sentence, we must put “of” + a noun after the word “chances”. REMEMBER that an –ing verb can also be a noun. (e.g. “I like swimming and ice-cream.”)

EXAMPLES:

Your chances of losing are slim.

The actor’s chances of winning the Oscar are slim.


Finally, here is a new exercise which gives you the chance to put this language into action. Do your best!

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