Please explain me the following. Murphy's grammar explains that "recommend" can be used with verb+object+to. His example is "I wouldn't recommend anybody to stay in the hotel". Another grammar book says that "some verbs, like consider and recommend, are followed by to-infinitive only when used in the passive or with an OBJECT PRONOUN.". My question is whether I can use a noun in such a structure. Many thanks
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
The
very authoritative
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language appears to sanction the use of a noun.
It gives this example:
I told/advised/persuaded
Mark to see a doctor.
It then lists other verbs that fit this pattern, including
recommend.
On the other hand,
Modern American Usage (a respected book but
one that many people feel is too old-fashioned) plainly states:
"
recommend never takes a direct object followed by an infinitive."
It says that "He recommended his students to read Gibbon [a famous
historian]" is wrong. It should be "He recommended to his students that
they should read all of Gibbon."
The book says that you "recommend somebody"
only for a job.