Never mind, I just had a typo, but this was nested in other code that I didn't notice any warning from it (unsure why). But the first option does work if I type it correctly.
$MO->context->flags->set(showExtraParens => 2); $MO->string;
WeBWorK Problems
How to get showExtraParens to make the string method show them.
This forum has a limit to the number of forum postings you can make in a given time period - this is currently set at 10 posting(s) in 1 day