How to make a recommendation/suggestion to someone

Question

I want to translate the following sentence:

The Student Union suggested to the restaurant manager that the restaurant should sell healthy food, less fast food, and no sweets and soft drinks during breaks and lunch.

Which of the following sentences is correct? Do you have to use the word 向? I have seen it with 借钱 and 道歉 but never with 建议。 With which verbs can you use 向? Not the ones to do with movement; those are clear.

学生会议餐餐厅经理建校餐厅应该卖健康食品，少卖快餐，在课间休息和午饭期间不卖糖果和汽水。

学生会向餐厅经理建议校餐厅应该卖健康食品，少卖快餐，在课间休息和午饭期间不卖糖果和汽水。

Answer 1

Sentence B is correct.

Let's first break down why sentence A is incorrect.

The problem is in '学生会议餐餐厅经理建'

I assume 学生会议餐餐厅经理建 is for 'The Student Union suggested to the restaurant manager'. This part has various problems. First of all, 'Student Union' should be 学生会/学生工会 instead of 学生会议(student meeting). I don't know why 餐 is repeated. 餐厅经理 is ok. 建 is probably here for 'suggest'. Maybe the 议 from before is originally supposed to be in 建议? However, this term is not separatable. If I translate this part literally into English it would be 'Student meeting (学生会议) restaurant manager (餐厅经理) establish (建)' You can see the verb is clearly not correct.

Now let's discuss why 学生会向餐厅经理建议 is correct.

We already discussed why 学生会 is correct and 学生会议 is wrong and why 建议 should stay together instead of being separated. 向 here is for conjunction. Stan's suggestion in the comment of your question is also good. 糖果 indeed only means candy.

You can use 建议 as a verb with or without 向, but the order of the words will differ.

Expression 1

entity 1 + 建议 + entity 2 + the actual advice. This expression is also more casual than the second expression.

Example:

学生会 (entity 1) 建议 餐厅经理 (entity 2) 校餐厅应该卖健康食品 (the actual advice)

我 (entity 1) 建议 你 (entity 2) 不要去 (the actual advice)

Expression 2

entity 1 + 向 + entity 2 + 建议 + the actual advice. This expression is also more formal. Another thing is, it is uncommon to put oneself (我) as entity 1 in this expression as it sounds awkward.

Example:

学生会 (entity 1) 向 餐厅经理 (entity 2) 建议 校餐厅应该卖健康食品 (the actual advice)

他 (entity 1) 向 我 (entity 2) 建议 我应该抛售 (the actual advice)

You can also change out 向 with 对 in this case.

You can use many many verbs with 向, many are interchangeable with 对, but not all (such as you can't say 我对你借钱 or 我向你说啊). You can treat both with the sense of 'direct towards'

examples of 向 without movement:

http://www.ichacha.net/zaoju/%E5%90%91.html (some of these fit what you want)

(1)　我 (I) 向 你 保证 (guarantee) 他们 (they) 胡说八道 (speak non-sense)。

(I guarantee to you that what they (implied: are saying/said/were saying/have said) is/was non-sense)

(2) 他们 (they) 向 他 (him) 道了谢 (thanked)。

(They thanked him)

(3) 目的 (purpose) 是 (is) 向 公司 (company) 的 ('s) 雇员 (employees) 募捐 (raising donation)。

(The purpose is to raise donations from the company's employees)

Answer 2

学生会向校餐厅经理建议，应当提供健康食品，少卖快餐，在课间和午饭时不卖糖果和软饮料。

I think 向 is needed here, because of "suggested to". If you use "suggested that", then you may use "学生会建议校餐厅", without 向.

Answer 3

Both are correct. 建议 sth, or 建议 sb to to sth; 向 sb 建议； these are all okay to use.