Is “What does the woman suggest the man do for his vacation?” correct?

Question

I just went through an official English test taken in China, and I saw something rather weird. Whenever I read this sentence, something tells me that the "do" part isn't right, it simply doesn't sound right to me. Could somebody clarify this for me? Is it, or is it not correct?

Man: I can't decide what to do for my summer vacation. I either want to go on a bike tour of Europe or go diving in Mexico.

Woman: Well, we're offering an all-inclusive two-week trip to Mexico for only 300 dollars.

Question goes as follows :

Question :　　What does the woman suggest the man do for his vacation?

Is Do correct? Or is it supposed to be Does?

Thank you for reading! Awaiting your replies.

Edit: As I'm quite unclear, I'm referring to the question, not the Man/Woman text snippet. Sorry!

Cerberus - Reinstate Monica · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-19T03:29:04.863

0

It is perfectly correct. Does would be wrong, or at least worse. In this sentence, do is a present subjunctive. The verb suggest is normally followed either by should with an infinitive or by a present subjunctive, if the that clause after suggest contains that which should be done. That is the case here. The word that is often omitted, as it is here. The same construction is normally used with other verbs that are mandative, i.e. verbs that express that something should be done.

edited Aug 19 '15 at 03:29

answered Aug 19 '15 at 03:21

Cerberus - Reinstate Monica

61,585

In that sentence, "do" sound extremely unnatural to me. Guess I still have work to do on my grammar. Thank you for the clear answer! – user3697142 Aug 19 '15 at 03:29
1

@user3697142: I understand. In informal English, people often don't use the mandative subjunctive but use the indicative (does) instead. Including people like David Cameron—alas, even in an official speech. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Aug 19 '15 at 03:29
Thank you once again for the beautiful answer! Much appreciated. – user3697142 Aug 19 '15 at 03:30
@user3697142: Welcome to the website! If you appreciate an answer, you might consider voting it up (press the up arrow next to it), or even accepting it as your preferred answer (press the tick mark). – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Aug 19 '15 at 03:31
I will, do not worry. Annoying time limit :P – user3697142 Aug 19 '15 at 03:32
@user3697142: Haha, it doesn't matter anyway, just general advice, which apparently you didn't need (I already have all the reputation points I need). – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Aug 19 '15 at 03:33

Is “What does the woman suggest the man **do** for his vacation?” correct?

1 Answers1

Is “What does the woman suggest the man do for his vacation?” correct?