These words refer to oral or written assistance given to someone who is trying to decide upon a course of action. Recommend indicates a positive declaration in favour of a particular alternative or set of possibilities: recommending a complete change of occupation that would give his life new meaning; recommending ten books as absolutely necessary to any understanding of the question he had raised. The word can apply equally well to situations in which help has or has not been solicited: recommending a walk before breakfast to everyone he met; asking him to recommend a good tailor. Advocate is the most like recommend of the rest of these words in emphasizing a positive declaration on the part of the person giving assistance; drawn from legal terminology, it is even stronger than recommend in suggesting an ardent espousal of a given course of action: advocating complete abstinence as the only way of combating his alcoholism. In this context, the word can imply a pugnacious tenacity or an unwelcome intrusion: advocating his pet theories on sexual adjustment to people far less disturbed than he. Prescribe compares with advocate and recommend in that a positive statement is made, but it is more specific in relating mainly to a doctor-patient relationship in which the doctor prescribes remedies for an ailment. In this context, the patient has sought the doctor’s assistance and is usually not compelled to abide by what is recommended . This gives it a less ardent, more matter-of-fact tone than advocate , but a more authoritative cast than recommend : prescribing a good dinner and an exciting film as the best way to cure his gloomy frame of mind.

Advise and suggest are much milder than the foregoing words. They do not necessarily indicate that any one alternative is recommended as a solution to the problem in question. Advise implies an extensive and detailed examination of a person’s situation, however informally, with several possibilities for action opened up simply by getting another vantage point on his difficulties: advising me on what to expect from the university I had chosen to attend. When used as an exact substitute for recommend , it nevertheless adds an implication of politeness or of reluctance to seem overbearing.

• May I advise you not to lend him large sums of money?; Would you advise me where I should spend my holidays this summer?

Suggest implies a single, every tentative proposal that is not insisted upon: in advising me, he suggested several possibilities for revision. In some cases, the tentativeness implied by the word may result from fear of being rejected: suggesting timidly that a night out would be enjoyable for both of them.

Counsel has come to have a specific reference to psychologists or guidance personnel at school or universities: counselling students on the importance of matching aptitude to career. In other uses, it still implies some quasi-official situation, with a stress on seriousness and formality: contending factions who counselled the mayor in secret. In ordinary uses, the word is more formal than advise , sometimes excessively so: counselling her daughter on how to behave at the ball.