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Which of the last three verb patterns apply to the verb 'recommend'?

  1. I recommend that you wait. (present subjunctive, American usage)

  2. I recommend that you should wait. (substitute for present subjunctive, British usage)

  3. I recommend waiting. (subject of the gerund not mentioned)

  4. I recommend you/your waiting (subject of the gerund mentioned)

  5. I recommend to wait. (subject of the infinitive not mentioned)

  6. I recommend you to wait. (subject of the infinitive mentioned)

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  • To recommend - to advise a particular course of action; to advise somebody to do something - usage - Recommend somebody to do something We'd recommend you to book your flight early. recommend (somebody) doing something He recommended reading the book before seeing the movie. oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/recommend
    – user66974
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 21:36
  • to recommend - recommend somebody/something (to somebody) to make somebody/something seem attractive or good, synonym commend: This system has much to recommend it.
    – user66974
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 21:45
  • 3
    Possible duplicate of "Recommend you to" vs. "recommend that you". Also Recommend someone and “Recommend you to (do something)” or “Recommend to you to (do something)”?, among others.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 21:45
  • Generally when "saying a word in favour of a person", you would either say I recommend someone for something or I recommend someone to someone.
    – Yay
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 21:46
  • The object of recommend is the thing being recommended. "I recommend you to wait" would mean that I am, eg, putting you on a list of those people who are supposed to wait for the next airplane. (Though the construction is not particularly idiomatic.)
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 23:02

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Structure n° 4. sounds a bit awkward: if it is you I am recommending something to, then the gerund does not need its own subject, you/your is understood. Only if the indirect object of the verb 'recommend' and the subject of the verb 'wait' are different is the subject of the gerund needed. It would sound ok if the subject of the gerund were a third person singular or plural, 'him/his', 'her/her', 'them/their'.

And structure n° 5. just does not exist for this verb (no occurrrence on ngram viewer).

Surprisingly, structure n°6. works for 'recommend', even when the meaning is not something like 'I will recommend you to wait on Lady So-And-So.', where 'recommending' is 'saying a word in favour of a person' and not 'giving them some advice'. It is, in fact, a simplified form of "I recommend (to) you to wait."

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  • I think this answer is far more complete than the 3 answers given to "Recommend you to" vs "Recommend that you".
    – user58319
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 19:46

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