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Why can't the verb 'need" accept passive Gerunds?

My car needs washing - correct

My car needs to be washed - correct

My car needs being washed - incorrect

Why can't a passive Gerund fit in there?

Are there any more verbs that behave like 'need?'

Thanks, A_Mendes

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  • What passive gerund would you like? You mean "my car needs being washed"? It's just not done.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Nov 22 at 14:36
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    "My car needs washed." This is found (among others) in the Pennsylvania Dutch area of the US.
    – GEdgar
    Commented Nov 22 at 15:13
  • @StuartF I know that. What is the reason?
    – A_Mendes
    Commented Nov 22 at 15:16
  • @GEdgar Yes. I have read about it. But that is wrong and is not what we expect with other verbs. "She doesn't like being ridiculed." (not 'she doesn't like ridiculed').
    – A_Mendes
    Commented Nov 22 at 15:18
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    "why" questions like this are almost impossible to answer, English doesn't operate according to strict rules. Some things are just not idiomatic, and there's little reason for it. Verbs of perception seem to behave similarly, you can't say "I saw being washed" (but you can say "I saw the car being washed").
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 22 at 16:20

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In My car needs washing, washing is already passive. CGEL calls it a “concealed passive”:

2.3 Concealed passives (The house needs painting)

With a small number of catenative verbs, notably need, require, deserve, and want, a gerund-participial may be passive while lacking the usual marking of the passive – we refer to this as the concealed passive construction. Compare:

[ordinary passive]

[16]  i  a.  The house needs to be painted.
             b. These books want to be taken back to the library.

[concealed passive]

        ii  a.  The house needs painting.
            b.  These books want taking back to the library.

Source: The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language

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  • "want taking back" doesn't sound natural to me.
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 22 at 19:58
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    @Barmar — I agree it sounds pretty odd. British!
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Nov 22 at 20:05
  • Yes; "want taking back" sounds natural to me (conversational register). Want = require.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 22 at 23:17
  • Hmm... It is there as a concealed passive in Wkipedia as well. However, I asked this because it can take another form of passive (passive infinitive). Quoting: "In the concealed passive, the present participle or gerund form (-ing form) appears rather than the past participle. This can appear after need, and for some speakers after want (with similar meaning). For example: Your car needs washing. (meaning "needs to be washed") That rash needs looking at by a specialist. (An idiomatic expression with the same construction is ... doesn't bear thinking about.)"
    – A_Mendes
    Commented Nov 23 at 4:10

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