OCD Grammar Mavens.....

[Suzon]

Which do you prefer:

We recommend railings that meet modern safety standards be installed where needed.

We recommend railings meeting modern safety standards be installed where needed.

My brain has gone for a bit of a walkabout.

[WheresMyWhite]

Me? Option 2

And am I an OCD Grammar Maven? Haven't a clue

[myleetlepony]

#2

[Chisamba]

see, i know nothing, i preferred number one. and i would probably throw in a comma too

[PaulaO]

I vote #1.

[Sunshine2Me]

Number 2. "That" is not necessary.

[piedmontfields]

#1 for clarity. #2 for discussion.

The US DOE pays me for these distinctions LOL!

[Suzon]

Going for clarity, so I'm going with #1.

Thanks everyone for the input on one silly stock phrase for building inspection reports.

[Literiding]

As a one time technical writer, the "We recommend . . ." bothers me. Since this sentence appears to be from a report, there should be no pronoun. Whom ever signs the report owns the text by default. Then "recommend" is wishy washy and begs to be ignored. As Yoda said, "Do. Or do not. There is no try."

I would say something like, "As funds permit, modern railings meeting the applicable codes should be installed at the following locations:"

[Suzon]

We're private building inspectors, we are not municipal code inspectors. You know those horrible people who come in and inspect the place before you buy it? By law, we cannot "act" like code, pest,or environmental inspectors, nor contractors or engineers, so the word "code" or anything about meeting code is out of our jurisdiction...which is just about as confusing as it gets because in reality we have to know what is and isn't correct "by code" for every aspect of a building.

We also don't "should." We have no authority. No one has to do anything we recommend. At the same time, people base a lot of their buying decisions on what we say. We can point out defects and recommend they be fixed, but we also aren't really supposed to prescribe the fix. We say, "we recommend repair by a qualified contractor" but we don't say "You should remove the damaged wood and sister in new pressure-treated joists."

So for the original phrase, we would point out the front porch guard railings are too low by modern standards, the right stairs are missing a hand-grip railing, and the openings on the rear deck guard railing are too wide. There's also all the yada yada as to why these things need improving (like your kid can fall through the wide openings, etc). To sum it all up, we recommend railings that meet modern safety standards be installed where needed. The person buying the house gets to decide if they even want to act on the recommendation and where they think they need new railings. As long as we've pointed out the problem, told them why it's a problem, and recommend they act, that's the end of our responsibility.They decide what they want to live with.

[capstone]

see, i know nothing, i preferred number one. and i would probably throw in a comma too

Me too, exactly! I told a friend yesterday that I'm a over-comma-er.

[boots-aregard]

I'm a "that" girl, so #1. My brain stumbles over the other one, trying to figure out which "ing" is the gerund.

I'm writing withing no authoritying whatsoevering.

[boots-aregard]

Me too, exactly! I told a friend yesterday that I'm a over-comma-er.

How can you say that? It should be "Me, too, exactly!" Man... Somedays you can't even trust a person's own self-analysis.

[capstone]

Me too, exactly! I told a friend yesterday that I'm a over-comma-er.

How can you say that? It should be "Me, too, exactly!" Man... Somedays you can't even trust a person's own self-analysis.

Oh, no! How embarrassing.

[Suzon]

Me too, exactly! I told a friend yesterday that I'm a over-comma-er.

How can you say that? It should be "Me, too, exactly!" Man... Somedays you can't even trust a person's own self-analysis.

Oh, no! How embarrassing.

Now, now. Do I need to get you ladies some self-help books? Or should we call in Dr. Phil?

[capstone]

How can you say that? It should be "Me, too, exactly!" Man... Somedays you can't even trust a person's own self-analysis.

Oh, no! How embarrassing.

Now, now. Do I need to get you ladies some self-help books? Or should we call in Dr. Phil?

Perhaps. My problem is worse than I thought - I over-comma in some situations and under-comma in others.

[Rhianon]

It doesn't matter. Both are fine. It's a style thing, not a grammar thing.