recommend someone to do something Recommend (that)someone do something:This British construction corresponds to an American mandative subjunctive; its oldest date in the OED is 1856. 1) Could you recommend some good TV series? 2) Could you recommend some TV good series to me?

Understanding the Context

3) Could you recommend me some good TV series? (?) There was a discussion on a German forum whether the last construction is also correct or not. Some said no, some said yes. I said that I have heard construction 3 quite a lot and that I would never mark it wrong if a student wrote that.

Key Insights

What do you ... I recommend you to take a bus tour changes things; now the recommendation is "you" (as if there's a group of people and I recommend "you" and not "someone else" to take a bus tour). A lot of them begin with these words: "I recommend me to you" or "I commend unto you" (eg. I recommend me to your high lordship, with heart and body and all my poor might) I am not sure if this just means something like "I am writing to you" or the meaning is more intense, like "I give up myself to your will" or smth like that.