Helpful Tips and Advice

Konu Anlatımı

Helpful Tips for Everyday Life

Sağlık, ders çalışma ve dijital yaşam gibi konularda tavsiye vermek için kalıplar ve kelime bilgisi gerekir.

Body Parts and Common Illnesses

Health advice often begins with the body. We say I have got a headache, a sore throat, a stomach ache or a temperature. Other common problems are a cough, a cold, flu and back pain. The pattern is the same: have got + a + illness.

Useful advice for these problems: You should rest and drink plenty of water. You shouldn't eat too much sugar. You ought to see a doctor if the pain continues. Notice that should and ought to are followed by the bare infinitive.

At the doctor's we explain the problem: It hurts here. It started two days ago. I feel tired all the time. The doctor may answer with a recommendation: Take this medicine twice a day.

Exam tip: when the question asks for advice, choose the option with should + verb; when it asks for a symptom, choose the option that names the body part or the illness.

Tavsiye Metinlerinin Yapılandırılması

Bir tavsiye metni sorun → neden → öneri → sonuç sırasıyla kurulur. Önce sorun belirtilir (Many students feel tired before exams.), sonra nedeni açıklanır (because they study late at night.), ardından öneri gelir (You should go to bed early.) ve en sonda olumlu sonuç yazılır (In this way, you will feel better.).

Önerinin şiddeti de sorulur. Yumuşak öneri için Why don't you...? ve You could..., standart tavsiye için should, güçlü uyarı için had better, kesin zorunluluk için ise must kullanılır. Bir cümlede yalnızca bir modal fiil bulunur: You should take a break. cümlesinde ikinci bir modal yer alamaz.

Ne Öğreneceğiz

In this lesson you will learn how to give useful advice about health, study and digital life. You will study the vocabulary of healthy habits — balanced diet, avoid junk food, get enough sleep, take regular exercise, manage your time, stay focused — and the collocations that go with them.

You will learn how to describe an illness with have got: I have got a headache, a sore throat, a stomach ache, a temperature, a cough, a cold. You will also learn what patients say at the doctor's: It hurts here, It started two days ago, I feel tired all the time.

Finally you will study the structure of an advice text: problem, cause, advice, result. Using that four-part order means your paragraph is complete, and choosing the right strength of advice (could for a soft suggestion, should for standard advice, You'd better for a warning) is what the exam rewards.

Ön Bilgi

You need three things before this lesson.

First, the imperative, because most tips are written as direct instructions: Take a break every hour. There is no subject and the verb stays in the base form.

Second, have got for illnesses and possessions. I have got a headache is the natural way to describe a symptom in British English; the question form is Have you got...?

Third, the modal verbs of advice from the previous topic: should, ought to, could, You'd better. This lesson puts them into longer texts, so they must be automatic.

Basit Örnek ve Günlük Yaşam

Read this short advice text and mark its four parts.

Many students feel tired before exams. This happens because they study late at night and skip breakfast. You should make a study plan and take a short break every hour. If you feel stressed, you ought to talk to someone you trust. In this way you will feel much better and your concentration will improve.

The four parts are: problem (Many students feel tired), cause (because they study late), advice (You should make a plan), result (you will feel much better). A text without the result sentence feels unfinished.

Now write the same four parts about using a phone too much.

İleri Örnek

Compare an informal tip list with a formal health leaflet.

Informal: Don't sit in front of the screen for hours. Get up, walk around, look out of the window. Your eyes will thank you.

Formal: Prolonged screen use may cause eye strain and headaches. Users are advised to take a break of five minutes every hour and to adjust the brightness of the display. Where symptoms continue, medical advice should be sought.

The informal text uses imperatives and direct address. The formal text uses the passive (are advised, should be sought) and general nouns. Exam tasks that mention a school magazine or a leaflet usually expect the second style, but a task that mentions a friend expects the first.

Adım Adım Çözülmüş Örnek

Follow these steps to write a complete advice text.

1. Step 1 — State the problem in the present simple. Many teenagers do not get enough sleep. No advice yet.
2. Step 2 — Give the cause with because or due to. This is often because they use their phones in bed.
3. Step 3 — Give two or three pieces of advice, from soft to strong. You could turn off notifications at night. You should keep the phone in another room. You'd better not drink coffee after six.
4. Step 4 — Add the result. If you do these things, you will fall asleep faster and feel rested in the morning.
5. Step 5 — Check the verb forms. After could, should and You'd better the verb is in the base form; after How about it is in the -ing form.

Karşılaştırma Tablosu

Illness and health words have fixed patterns. Learn the pairs in this table.

Careful: advice is uncountable. Say some advice or a piece of advice, never an advice or advices.

Sık Yapılan Hatalar

Six mistakes are common in advice texts.

• Making advice countable. Can you give me an advice? is wrong. Say Can you give me some advice? or a piece of advice.
• Using advise and advice in the wrong roles. Advice is the noun; advise is the verb: He gave me good advice and He advised me to rest.
• Writing I have headache. In British English the article is needed: I have got a headache.
• Using You should to see. After a modal there is no to: You should see a doctor.
• Confusing healthy and health. Health is the noun (good health), healthy is the adjective (healthy food). Eat health is not English.
• Putting two modals in one sentence. You should can study more is impossible. Choose one modal.

Özet

Advice texts follow a fixed order and a fixed set of patterns.

• Order: problem, cause, advice, result. The result sentence is not optional.
• Health vocabulary: balanced diet, junk food, regular exercise, enough sleep, stay focused, manage time.
• Symptoms: have got + article + illness (a headache, a sore throat, a temperature).
• Strength of advice: could (soft), should (standard), ought to (formal), You'd better (warning).
• Word forms: advice (noun, uncountable), advise (verb), healthy (adjective), health (noun).

Kendini Dene

Answer in full sentences and then check the key.

1. Complete: You should eat ____ (health) food every day.
2. Which sentence is correct? (a) Can you give me an advice? (b) Can you give me some advice? (c) Can you give me advices?
3. Rewrite correctly: I have bad headache today.
4. Fill in: He advised me ____ (see) a doctor. (see / to see / seeing)
5. Write the four parts of an advice text about too much screen time. Use one sentence for each part.
6. Give three pieces of advice for a friend with a sore throat. Use three different strengths.

Answer key: 1) healthy — an adjective is needed before a noun. 2) (b) — advice is uncountable. 3) I have got a bad headache today. 4) to see — advise is followed by the infinitive with to. 5) Any four correct sentences, e.g. Many young people spend too long in front of screens. This is because games and videos are designed to be interesting. You could set a timer and take a five-minute break every hour. You'd better turn the screen off an hour before bed. If you do this, your eyes and your sleep will improve. 6) Any three correct sentences, e.g. You could drink warm water with honey. You should rest your voice. You'd better see a doctor if it does not get better.