Possibly it's a Scottish thing? I have heard Scottish people say 'this needs washed' etc, but not English people. Except for me, because it's catching!
Possibly it's a Scottish thing? I have heard Scottish people say 'this needs washed' etc, but not English people. Except for me, because it's catching!
"Needs" or "wants" + past participle is standard Scots not standard English.
So in Scotland one would say "The baby needs fed" and that would be grammatically correct. A Scot would never say "The baby needs feeding". It's not *wrong*, as such, but we wouldn't say it. We would of course understand "The baby needs feeding" but it would sound a little odd to our ears.
Interestingly the use of needs/wants + past participle is also used in some American dialects - Pittsburgh and parts of Pennysylvania. Thought to come from Scots originally.
In England it's the other way around. They use need/want + gerund (verb-ing).
Last edited by Rachel Harris; 06-26-2011 at 03:36 PM.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)