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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Needs or need

Hello, is the following sentence correct:

"It's not me who needs to know all this."

If it is correct, why is it "needs" and not "need"?

Thank you.

Stephen.
  

Top answer

In my opinion, in relative clauses the rules on auxilliary usages don't apply. e: I have / she has etc. so, "me" is singular and takes "needs".

  • In my opinion, in relative clauses the rules on auxilliary usages don't apply.
  • e: I have / she has etc.
  • so, "me" is singular and takes "needs".
  • in deciding which relative pronoun to use, the singularity or plurality of the preceding noun must be taken into consideration.
  • "me" is singular...
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10 Answers
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In my opinion,

in relative clauses the rules on auxilliary usages don't apply. i.e: I have / she has etc.

so, "me" is singular and takes "needs".

in deciding which relative pronoun to use, the singularity or plurality of the preceding noun must be taken into consideration.

"me" is singular...
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Hello Stephen, I'm an English learner from Japan.

There seems no strict rule about the choice between "needs" and "need".
I myself would like to use "need", because I think 'who' is actually 'I'.
But many native speakers use "needs" especially for 'it's me'.
Probably it is because they think 'who' is equal to 'it'.

I made a google survey. The results are as f
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You're doing fine, Paco!
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They're interesting results. If we exclude 1a (small sample), they suggest 'person of verb by nearest preceding subject pronoun' – except 3. So 'me...is' jars less than 'us...is'; which takes us back to Paco's point about number.

But then, perhaps some instances here of 'need' are semi-modal, i.e. with no 'needs' form.

MrP
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This is a problem of messing-up "need" which is a) a full verb and b) a modal helping verb.

a) As a full verb, "need" means "require, lack sth" or also "have to".
In this case, need conjugates like all the other 'normal' verbs:
3rd person singular with -s, followed by an infinitive with "to", negated with "don't".
Ex:
I need money, he needs to go. He doesn't need t
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because here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".
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Anonymousbecause here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".
He need to wash the car, here. (Is "need" the correct verb?)
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Anonymousbecause here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".
The sentence of yours that I have underlined is incorrect.
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it is correct because he/she/it requires "s" at the end.
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Needs is singular & need is plural

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