Asking For and Giving Advice — English Bac STM

Dans le programme du Bac STM

English carries a coefficient of 2 in the Bac Sciences et Technologies Mécaniques (STM) stream. The core subjects are Mathematics and Engineering Sciences (coefficient 7 each), then Physics-Chemistry (coefficient 5). English and Philosophy (coefficient 2) form the margin where candidate rankings and honours are settled. Mastering the structure of a piece of writing matters more here than memorising it.

À l'épreuve

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (about 180 words). Reading technical drawings and function diagrams builds the same skill an essay needs: breaking an argument into parts and rebuilding it as a coherent plan.

Objectifs d'apprentissage

Produce this function at the right register in a dialogue-completion task on the Bac STM English paper (coefficient 2)
Ask for advice: What should I do? / What would you do (if you were me)? / Do you think I should…?
Give advice with should / ought to + base form
Give hypothetical advice with If I were you, I would…
Use softer suggestions: Why don't you…? / How about + -ing? / You could…

Notions clés

Asking for advice

What should I do? / What do you think I should do? / If you were me, what would you do? / Do you have any advice on…? — direct questions that invite a recommendation.

Giving advice with should / ought to

should / ought to + base form, for a clear recommendation: “You should talk to your teacher.” / “You ought to apologise.” The negative is shouldn't (“You shouldn't wait any longer.”).

Hypothetical advice: If I were you

If I were you, I would + base form — a common way to give advice by putting yourself in the other person's place: “If I were you, I would revise the grammar chapters first.” (second conditional structure).

Erreurs fréquentes

Using should + to: “You should to rest” is wrong — should is a modal, followed by the base form without to.

Saying “If I was you”: in advice, the fixed form is “If I were you” for all subjects.

Giving advice with must (obligation) when a recommendation is meant: should / ought to are softer and more appropriate for advice.

Exemple corrigé

Énoncé

A friend says: “I have failed two English tests in a row.” Give one piece of advice using should and one using If I were you.

Correction

Advice with should. A direct recommendation: “You should ask your teacher which points you keep getting wrong.”

Advice with If I were you. The same idea from your own standpoint: “If I were you, I would focus on one grammar chapter a week and practise it in writing.”

Result. Two well-formed pieces of advice, one with a modal, one with the second-conditional structure.

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3 exercices pour t'entraîner

Exercice 1

Easy

Complete: “You look exhausted. You ___ take a break.” (should / must / would)

Voir la correction

should — a recommendation, softer than the obligation must.

Exercice 2

Medium

Rewrite as advice with If I were you: “Talk to your parents about it.”

Voir la correction

“If I were you, I would talk to my parents about it.” — note were (not was) and would + base form.

Exercice 3

Hard

Correct: “If I was you, I will study harder and you should to see a tutor.”

Voir la correction

Three errors: “If I were you” (not was), “I would study” (not will) in the second conditional, and “you should see” (should + base form, no to). Corrected: “If I were you, I would study harder, and you should see a tutor.”

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Questions fréquentes

Is “If I were you” really more correct than “If I was you”?

In the fixed advice phrase, yes — “If I were you” is the form expected in Bac writing. “If I was you” is heard in casual speech but is marked as incorrect here.

What is the difference between should and had better?

should is general advice; had better is stronger and hints at a bad consequence if the advice is ignored: “You'd better leave now or you'll miss the train.”

How do I give advice more gently in a dialogue?

Use a suggestion form: “Why don't you…?”, “How about talking to her?”, “You could try…” — less direct than should, useful when the register calls for tact.

English is far from my mechanical specialism — how do I approach it?

Treat it as a system with inputs and outputs: the input is a prompt, the processing is analysis then discussion, the output is a conclusion that settles the question. Learn that flow, apply it to the 31 chapters with two examples each, and one weekly session is enough to raise the mark.

Why learn a spoken function for a written Bac STM exam?

Because it is tested in writing: dialogue-completion tasks ask for exactly these phrases at the right level of politeness. Keeping two or three set expressions per function, sorted by register, covers the task reliably.