Linked Questions

1 vote
1 answer
8k views

Is "Needs fixed' valid usage? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the “needs washed” construction? Using -ed vs. -ing in the “needs washed” ...
kmarsh's user avatar
  • 165
2 votes
2 answers
4k views

Omitting "to be" [duplicate]

Possible Duplicates: Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the “needs washed” construction? Using -ed vs. -ing in the “needs washed” ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
911 views

Regional omission of "to be." [duplicate]

I've noticed that people from the Washington, Oregon area tend to omit "to be" when describing something that needs to be completed. For example, just today one of my consulting engineers sent me an ...
Tom Cohenour's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
293 views

"A bed that needs made" [duplicate]

I have recently been encountering sentences like "I have a bed that needs made." "You have a face that needs punched." Is this proper grammar, and if so; is there a name for this construction?
Weckar E.'s user avatar
  • 439
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

Use of "need attended" [duplicate]

A coworker insisted that this sentence was incorrect but I argued that it is correct. Here is the sentence in question: There are potholes that need attended to right away on southbound I-75 ...
Gale's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

Origin and of the phrase "problem that needed solved" [duplicate]

I recently listened to a podcast in which the narrator described an unresolved obstacle as a "problem that needed solved." My initial assumption was that he had meant to say "problem that needed to be ...
B Sharp's user avatar
  • 299
0 votes
0 answers
77 views

Pittsburgh English - dropping the "to be" before a verb [duplicate]

This is a region dialect issue, while discussing local idiosyncrasies the question came up is the following sentence grammatically correct with or without the "to be" "The clothes on the line need to ...
mikeswright49's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
56 views

Girlfriend has weird English and I don't know the words to describe the question ("needs delivered", "wants fed", etc) [duplicate]

ELU! My girlfriend has been using some strangely-formed English in the past few years. It's not just her because I've heard it elsewhere too. I've got a video of a screenwriter where he says, "...
Johnny English's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
59 views

How do I explain why an infinitive verb is important to this kind of sentence to a friend [duplicate]

I have a friend who has a grammar style I don’t understand. They use the setup “Noun Present-Tense Verb Past-Tense Verb-Turned-Subject.” Some examples: I want laid. You need hugged. They like ...
user372415's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
50 views

Declining use of such phrases as to be [duplicate]

2-Part Question: 1) What is the grammatical term for "to be" in the following statement? "This needs to be repaired." 2) Is it slang or an accepted trend that more and more the "to be" portion is ...
mlrmisc's user avatar
11 votes
7 answers
18k views

How are "needs to be washed," "needs washing," and the regional variant "needs washed" to be distinguished"?

I'm from Central Pennsylvania, and apparently, we have a strange language construct in this area. I was recently talking about how "my car needs washed" to a friend from NJ, and she told me that my ...
D e v v i n's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
33k views

Can you grammatically end a sentence with "with"? For example, in "Do you want to come with?"

Do you want to come with? Can I come with? I seem to hear this construction more often in recent years, but it still grates on my ear. I know it's often said that one shouldn't end a sentence with a ...
FumbleFingers's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
24k views

"Needs cleaned" or "needs to be cleaned"

I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Until I moved away, I never realized that when I omitted the to be from phrases like needs to be cleaned, my usage was different than what most English speakers are ...
Slick23's user avatar
  • 271
10 votes
4 answers
3k views

What does it mean to be "correct" in pronunciation or grammar?

(Preamble: this post is literally about the meaning of the word “correct” in this context, but also, of course, overlaps with the philosophy of prescriptive perspectives in the process. I hope that ...
Angada's user avatar
  • 253
3 votes
6 answers
3k views

An alternative to quotation marks

Let's say that I want to communicate that a particular website is the first result when googling cool ringtones. Normally I would say it like this: This website is the first Google result for "cool ...
Aaron White's user avatar

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