VOOZH about

URL: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/she-needs-changing-changed.1495373/

⇱ she needs changing/changed | WordReference Forums

Menu
Install the app
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

she needs changing/changed

kenny4528

Senior Member
Mandarin, Taiwan
Hi, just wondering if need changed can be used instead of need changing in the following sentence:

(Rach's baby is crying outloud)
Rach: Oh, she needs changing
Chandler: No no no, I'll get her.


Oh, she needs changed.👁 Confused :confused:
I think this ('needs changing') has been called the covert passive. It corresponds to a passive in meaning ("needs to be changed") but is active in form. So also 'it wants mending' (BE only?). I don't think I've ever encountered 'needs changed', which looks to me like a blend of the two constructions.
I don't think I've ever encountered 'needs changed', which looks to me like a blend of the two constructions.

I encountered this type of construction many years ago in northeastern Colorado (a U.S. state)- but nowhere else.
The "needs changed" type of construction is also common in Indiana. In fact, my fiance is from a different part of the midwest and frequently comments on how strange it sounds to him.
I also think it's common in at least some varieties of Scottish English. I can distinctly "hear" my sister-in-law saying my hair needs washed.
I also think it's common in at least some varieties of Scottish English. I can distinctly "hear" my sister-in-law saying my hair needs washed.

👁 Thumbs Up :thumbsup:

Scotland is the only place I've heard this expression (as in "the floor needs washed", "that bread needs eaten", etc).
A friend of mine from Belfast also uses this construction and would, for example, say, 'That tyre needs changed.' So possibly a Northern Ireland thing also?
The construction needs changed is used all the time here in western Pennsylvania. On the other hand, we almost never use needs changing and it might even sound unnatural to some folks around here. I guess it's just regional differences, even if some of these differences may not be seen as standard.
The construction needs changed is used all the time here in western Pennsylvania. On the other hand, we almost never use needs changing and it might even sound unnatural to some folks around here. I guess it's just regional differences, even if some of these differences may not be seen as standard.

The Web site for the PBS program Do You Speak American? discusses this here.

Yinz, which is found throughout the Appalachians in various forms (such as you’uns), is most likely Scotch-Irish as well. So is the grammatical peculiarity found in expressions like The car needs washed or These customers want seated, where other dialects would have an infinitive (needs to be washed) or a present participle (needs washing). This is also found in Appalachian English and in the central Midwest.
Where I live, it's either "needs changed" or "needs changing".

Well, it appears that Arkansas and New York speak the same language; same here.
Back
Top Bottom