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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Needs doing

Hi,

I have a quick question. I recently moved to Ohio and noticed some idiosyncrasies in the speech of people here. Frequently, I hear people say that a task “needs done” or that a shirt “needs washed”. I am pretty sure that this is incorrect. It should either be “needs to be done” or “needs doing”. However, someone I was talking to told me that using the past tense was fine as long as it was preceded by the word this. I.e. “Bob needs this done.” Is this correct? Also how does this affect the past tense of need? Bob needed this done/doing?

Thanks for the help,

Matthew
  

Top answer

” Is this correct? Yes. To be is simply omitted.

— RandomGuy

  • ” Is this correct?
  • Yes.
  • To be is simply omitted.
  • This is common in ordinary conversation.
  • Anonymous Also how does this affect the past tense of need?
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3 Answers
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Hi, Matthew,
Anonymous“Bob needs this done.” Is this correct?
Yes. To be is simply omitted. This is common in ordinary conversation.
AnonymousAlso how does this affect the past tense of need? Bob needed this done/doing?
Not doing. The participle wouldn’t change: Bob needed this [to be] done.
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AnonymousI have a quick question. I recently moved to Ohio and noticed some idiosyncrasies in the speech of people here. Frequently, I hear people say that a task “needs done” or that a shirt “needs washed”. I am pretty sure that this is incorrect.
It is not standard English, that's for sure. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I hadn't heard of it.
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Anonymousa shirt “needs washed”. I am pretty sure that this is incorrect. It should either be “needs to be done” or “needs doing”.
Right. That construction falls into the category of a regionalism. You won't find it everywhere in the English-speaking world.

CJ
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