EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (2025)

P

ptite_flor

Member

France

  • Oct 5, 2007
  • #1

Hi !

When will you use "Recommend + V" and "Recommend + ing"? Which form is the most correct?

Thanks a lot

  • J

    jierbe31

    Senior Member

    Midi-Pyrénées

    French from France

    • Oct 5, 2007
    • #2

    Hello,

    I believe both forms are correct.

    Personally I would use:

    - recommend somebody to do something

    - recommend doing something

    Still wait for the natives' input.EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (1)

    Last edited by a moderator:

    A

    Ansonesque

    Member

    Alabama

    USA/English

    • Oct 5, 2007
    • #3

    Bonjour,

    Je dirais que les deux sont corrects grammaticalement, mais la première phrase s'entend peut-être mieux comme, recommend that somebody do something.:

    Par Exemple:

    I recommend that you see a doctor...

    versus

    I recommend you seeing a doctor...

    mais tous les deux vont, dirais-je...

    l'on pourrait dire aussi,

    I would recommend seeing a doctor... (où la personne qui devrait consulter le médecin est bien compris...)

    J'espére d'avoir aidé un peu EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (2)

    Last edited by a moderator:

    C

    Chouquette

    Senior Member

    france french

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #4

    Bonjour,

    Je lis deux phrases où se trouve le verbe 'to recommend' avec le verbe qui suit sans 'to' et l'autre phrase -ing?

    I highly recommend you prepare well for this test.

    I recommended going away for the weekend.

    Dans quel cas met-on le verbe sans 'to' et/ou avec -ing?

    Je vous remercie par avance de vos explications.

    Chouquette.

    Maître Capello

    Mod et ratures

    Suisse romande

    French – Switzerland

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #5

    Chouquette said:

    I highly recommend [that] you prepare well for this test.
    I recommended going away for the weekend.

    Dans la première phrase, l'équivalent français est je recommande que vous (+ subordonnée) alors que la seconde est je recommande de (+ infinitif). Peut-être est-ce l'ellipse du that qui t'as déstabilisée?

    C

    Cristina Moreno

    Senior Member

    Lebanon

    Lebanon-Arabic

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #6

    La première phrase est "I highly recommend

    that

    you prepare well for this test" mais le "that" est éliminé (ça se fait très souvent)

    Quant à la deuxième phrase, "to recommend" est suivi par -ing quand il n'est pas séparé du participe (comme dans ton exemple), mais il est suivi par to+infinitif quand il est séparé du participe par un pronom par exemple (He recommended

    us

    to stay far)

    Attends la réponse des natifs pour t'assurer plus!

    A

    Adolfo De Coene

    Senior Member

    Mallorca Spain

    Belgium (English, Spanish, French, Dutch)

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #7

    Il est interressant de noter que:
    I highly recommend you prepare well for this test. <> I highly recommend preparing well for this test.
    I recommended going away for the weekend. <> I recommend you go away for the week-end.

    A

    Avignonais

    Senior Member

    USA

    USA, Anglophone

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #8

    Yes, they are very similar. One difference is that recommend (that) you prepare... is more specific and more direct. Could even be taken as an order.

    With the gerund, it really is a recommendation or suggestion.

    I don't know. The difference is subtle. Would like to see other anglophones' opinion.

    Maître Capello

    Mod et ratures

    Suisse romande

    French – Switzerland

    • Oct 12, 2007
    • #9

    I agree with you because with the gerund you don't specify the subject. In fact I recommend going away for the weekend could also mean I recommend we go away for the weekend, couldn't it?

    Last edited:

    D

    dicomec

    Senior Member

    USA

    • Oct 13, 2007
    • #10

    I think I would prefer, I recommend that (but many omit the "that".
    In the past, I recommended his going away, or I recommended that he go away,
    But if we were talking and both understood the context, i.e. the subject, I might simply say, I recommended going away...
    That is, Charlo wasn't feeling well, and was tired, so I recommended (his) going away for a few days.
    Personally, I still prefer "that" or "his" or "her" to clarify and complete the pharase.EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (5)

    Kelly B

    Curmodgeratrice

    USA English

    • Oct 13, 2007
    • #11

    To recommend that you go away: mieux lorsqu'on parle de cette fois çi. Il vous faut bien évidemment un congé...!
    To recommend going away: mieux lorsqu'on la considère une bonne idée en générale. Sortir le weekend est géniale.

    Maître Capello

    Mod et ratures

    Suisse romande

    French – Switzerland

    • Oct 13, 2007
    • #12

    dicomec said:

    I recommended (his) going away for a few days.

    I learned that syntax at school – I mean recommend his going… – but I must admit I've never actually heard it and seldom read it. Is it just me or is it a phrase which isn't really used anymore? Or is it simply considered formal language and hence barely used in everyday speech?

    J

    james_san

    New Member

    New Zealand

    English

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #13

    "I recommend his going away.." does make sense, but I would never use it. It sounds very formal.
    "I recommend (that) he go away.." sounds a little better.
    "I would recommend he went away for the weekend" also sounds good, although I can't explain why I would use went (past tense?) here.

    Last edited by a moderator:

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #14

    As a general rule for spoken American English on this little aside, we seem to prefer just a pronoun instead of a possessive one for these kinds of phrases:
    I recommend him going away to a private home.
    Are you angry about him playing loud music all night?

    etc EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (8)

    Maître Capello

    Mod et ratures

    Suisse romande

    French – Switzerland

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #15

    You're saying it is spoken AE. Is it widespread?

    Anyway, what about recommend to go away vs recommend going away?

    A

    Avignonais

    Senior Member

    USA

    USA, Anglophone

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #16

    Yup, this is a common one grammarians love to correct. Many AE speakers will say: I recommend him going away. And they will be corrected by purists to say: I recommend HIS going away.

    I recommend just learning the correct form: HIS.

    Maître, it is quite common. Also, we don't use recommend with TO + Infinitive. So, recommend to go away is not correct

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #17

    Avignonais: But if you go around saying "I don't like his staying out so late", you'll sound unnatural and foreign to 99% of AE speakers EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (10) I recommend learning what is natural and correct in every situation except extremely formal gatherings and essays, regardless of what grammarians say.

    Areyou Crazy

    Senior Member

    Versailles PARIS

    England English speaker

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #18

    you can use ' i recommended that he go away'
    very good nestcepas?? Don't let anyone say the subjunctive doesn't exist!
    They use it a lot in America and Ireland (apparently)

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #19

    Sorry to derail the thread, but let's put it this way: some things like this will sound wrong, not just stilted, despite (again) what formal grammar dictates. It's not always possible to reconcile prescriptivist standards with the actual spoken word.
    As a native speaker, I do not recommend using a possessive pronoun in these situations 99% of the time, unless you're dealing in stately/formal affairs or writing a thesis, in which case a reformulation would probably be better anyway.

    It's similar to the "than they/them" thing: grammar dictates "I'm better than they", but no American alive is going to say that on the spur of the moment, instead choosing "I'm better than them".

    Which one you choose determines if you talk like a book or a person EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (12)

    Areyou_crazy: The subjunctive is falling out of favor in America. Though some contexts still have it without question ("I request that he be there"), the most common ones are losing it ("If I were" is steadily becoming "If I was")

    Areyou Crazy

    Senior Member

    Versailles PARIS

    England English speaker

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #20

    I have to disagree Canard . Depending on where you are in the world you will hear one or the other. It is perhaps more common in England but I wouldn't laugh at my friends for using that structure and you don't want to know the occuations of some of them! In England at least the structure chosen varies widely according to dialect etc..

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #21

    Which structure are we talking about? EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (14) (keep in mind I'm a speaker of AE only)

    Areyou Crazy

    Senior Member

    Versailles PARIS

    England English speaker

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #22

    i think it was ' i don't like his staying out so late'
    there is nothing at all strange, in my opinion, with that structure!

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #23

    It must be a British English thing then, since here it sounds like a stern old lady saying it EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (16)

    A

    Avignonais

    Senior Member

    USA

    USA, Anglophone

    • Oct 14, 2007
    • #24

    Some of us might be stern old ladies. EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (17)

    In AE I do hear the possessive version also. Though, you are right in speech, the simple pronoun is quite common.

    E

    englishman

    Senior Member

    English England

    • Oct 15, 2007
    • #25

    Maître Capello said:

    I learned that syntax at school – I mean recommend his going… – but I must admit I've never actually heard it and seldom read it. Is it just me or is it a phrase which isn't really used anymore? Or is it simply considered formal language and hence barely used in everyday speech?

    It's perfectly good English and used fairly widely in BE. I try to use it exclusively (as opposed to "him going").

    O

    omahieu

    Senior Member

    Belgium

    Belgium and French

    • Oct 15, 2007
    • #26

    james_san said:

    "I would recommend he went away for the weekend" also sounds good, although I can't explain why I would use went (past tense?) here.

    I suppose because 'would' is formally the preterit of 'will'.

    C

    Canard

    Senior Member

    Portland, OR

    English, USA

    • Oct 16, 2007
    • #27

    I wouldn't use the past tense in that phrase, it sounds like a mistake to me.

    I'd recommend he go away for the weekend.

    H

    Hese

    Senior Member

    German

    • Apr 8, 2008
    • #28

    Do you ever say "I recommend you to wash your car"?
    My grammar book states: the infinitive is used when someone advises, allows of forbids a person to do something in a particular case.
    The gerund is used when someone advises, allows or forbids something in general.
    But an American friend of mine told me not to use "recommend to do" and to say recommend doing instead. What do you think?

    cropje_jnr

    Senior Member

    Canberra, Australia

    English - Australia

    • Apr 8, 2008
    • #29

    I would say either "I recommend that you wash your car" or "I recommended washing your car".

    Regardless of whether the infinitive is correct or not, it sounds awkward. EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (19)

    Suehil

    Senior Member

    Tillou, France

    British English

    • Apr 8, 2008
    • #30

    'Recommend' is transitive so it needs a noun or noun clause as object.
    "I advise you to wash" or "I expect you to wash", but
    "I recommend that you wash".

    E

    EdCalgary

    New Member

    Calgary, AB, Canada

    English - Canada

    • Aug 18, 2009
    • #31

    It seems this thread has missed the point that a clause of recommendation or command is one of the few places in English where the subjunctive mode is retained. The example uses 2nd person, which is not a good example because indicative and subjunctive are the same. One must use 3rd person singular because that is the only verb form that changes between indicative and subjunctive.

    You would see this construction in an official proposal, perhaps as a list of recommendations before city council. The "that" is optional. I recommend (that): he spend $100,000 ; it take no more than a year ; she go to a higher level of government for funding. Indicative forms would be "spends", "takes" and "goes" but these would be incorrect since the subjunctive is required, and would sound wrong to most English speakers.

    Hence the construction you are looking for, and the one recommended earlier in the trail without explanation, is:

    I recommend (that)
    you wash his/ he wash his / they wash his / we wash his
    car.

    By the way, "I recommend washing your car" sounds fine and is correct, however it is very hard to apply to anything other than 2nd person, where it is clear who is being addressed. If you say "I recommend washing his car", then it is not clear who you think should wash the car because the first pronoun in the subordinate clause is missing, i.e., implied. If you are not really recommending action on somebody's part, only observing that the car is dirty, it would be better to say "That car needs to be / should be washed.

    P

    Pancrace

    New Member

    French France

    • Jul 17, 2024
    • #32

    I recommend
    him washing his car / them washing his car / us washing his car

    Would it also be correct then?

    Last edited by a moderator:

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    EN: recommend + V-ing / subjunctive / to-infinitive (2025)

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