Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
suggested, suggestive (adjs.)
The final syllables make a world of difference: suggested is the past tense and participial adjective form of the verb suggest; it means simply “offered for consideration”: He suggested that we make a contribution. The suggested contribution was ten dollars. Suggestive has two meanings: “thought-provoking, rich in ideas and allusions and the like,” as in His observations about the report were suggestive—that is, helpful. But the much more frequently used meaning is “implying something indecent or improper”: He made suggestive remarks about that woman. Note that this raised-eyebrow, fleering sense of suggestive is so strong that it’s usually necessary, when that’s not the intended sense, to use ameliorative adverbs or adjectives with it to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding: Her comments were suggestive and proved helpful.
