[LThain]

Hello,
My intermediate class got a little bit confused the other day when we were going through the rules for Multi-Verb expressions. The one that stumped them the most was how a gerund normally changes when there´s an indirect object.
eg. I advise cleaning your room.
I advise you to clean your room. (with IO)
I suggest eating now.
I suggest we eat now. (with IO)

Any suggestions for how to explain this rule clearly and concisely? Any supportive activities or games?
Thanks!
Lorna

[Dave-B]

These are the little details students work out in their speaking after a while. They need lots of opportunities to listen to English before they can really start to be comfortable with these forms.

However, if you wanted to get it into their heads, it might be a good time for repetition.

Have them say about 10 of these in a row to really get comfortable with the sound and feeling of the sentences.

I suggest you leave
I suggest you stop
I suggest you listen
etc.

[roja123]

Could you alter the sentences a little so that you say

I suggest eating now.
I suggest that we eat now.

It could possibly make things a little clearer. You could let them know that the "that" is optional, but it is an indicator that a conjugated verb needs to follow.

Also, not sure if this distinction would complicate things further, but there is a slight difference in that an activity is being suggested in the first sentence and an action in the second. You could highlight this by showing that "I suggest eating now" can be a substitute for
I suggest we eat now.
I suggest you eat now.
I suggest the children eat now.
etc.

Since the sentence with the gerund is suggesting an activity, but not specifying who should do it, you could demonstrate this by doing a comic strip or something where someone makes a gerund suggestion and the wrong person/people takes it up, making for a funny situation. Or maybe a guessing scenario where you have pictures and speech bubbles and the children have to guess who the suggestion would logically be for.

Hope that's a bit helpful!

[LThain]

Thank you both for your suggestions! I´ll try them out next week. Happy Carnaval!