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Keramus Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary

Do you know what is needed right now?

Hello everybody

It's very hot outside. I and my wife are walking in the street and we are boiling.
My wife said:
Do you know what is needed right now?
I said : A can of cold soda.
(My wife wanted to know what can refresh us in this hot weather)
Is this sentence idiomatic in English?

Thank you.
  

Top answer

It's a natural sentence. It's not idiomatic because the individual words are used with their ordinary meaning. Kind regards, Michael

— Michael Chambers Teaching English

  • It's a natural sentence.
  • It's not idiomatic because the individual words are used with their ordinary meaning.
  • Kind regards, Michael
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12 Answers
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It's a natural sentence. It's not idiomatic because the individual words are used with their ordinary meaning. Kind regards, Michael
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Thank you. I'm not a native speaker. What would a native speaker say in this situation and context?
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Like I said, your example is natural so I would expect to hear native speakers use it. Natural is not the same as idiomatic.

You could also say : "I could really do with a cool drink."
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Posted and answered here:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/232264-Do-you-know-what-is-needed-right-now
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Yes, I know but I looked for an idiom. I didn't receive my answer in that forum. So I decided to ask in this forum. The answer in this forum is exactly what I needed. I mean COULD REALLY DO WITH. Thank you all.
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I didn't mean to be rude. I just wanted to hear different opinions . If this really upset you, I apologize. Please forgive me.
I promise this will never happen again.
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It's OK with me to ask the same question in two forums. If it's OK with the moderators here, perhaps you could mention that you've done this in questions.
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Sorry. Next time , I will tell you the reason and reference. Hope dear moderators forgive me . As you see, I just became a member of these forums yesterday. I'm a new member and I'm not used to the rules. If this problem really upset the members and the moderators, I apologize and I promise this will never happen again.
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Do you know what is needed right now?

Active voice is much more natural here.
eg Do you know what we need right now?
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Michael Chambers Teaching English It's not idiomatic because the individual words are used with their ordinary meaning. Kind regards, Michael
'Idiomatic' has another meaning, Michael:

adjective
1 Using, containing, or denoting expressions that are natural to a native speaker.
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