Asking For and Giving Advice — English Bac SGC

Dans le programme du Bac SGC

English carries a coefficient of 2 in the Bac Sciences de Gestion Comptable (SGC) stream — far behind Accounting (coefficient 8) and Business Organisation (coefficient 6), and level with Philosophy and Law. It is part of the margin that decides rankings and honours, and its mark is raised by method rather than by volume.

À l'épreuve

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (about 180 words). An accountant's discipline in ordering and justifying entries transfers to a well-ordered essay plan and a clearly sequenced argument.

Objectifs d'apprentissage

Produce this function at the right register in a dialogue-completion task on the Bac SGC 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 coefficient 2 against 8 for accounting — how do I balance them?

Do not drop it: a mark in English weighs in the average like a mark in any coefficient-2 subject, and raising it is a matter of method, not accumulation. One weekly session — chapter, rule or words, example, two short paragraphs — plus a fixed template for the introduction and conclusion is enough to secure the marks.

Why learn a spoken function for a written Bac SGC 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.