密歇根新闻广播 needs washed 语法结构

 

Have you ever heard of the "needs washed" construction? That's when the verb "need" is followed by a past participle like "washed" or "fixed¹" without "to be." For example, "That dish needs washed."

Two listeners recently wrote to us about this. One says she started to hear it when she moved to Michigan and the other after moving to northwest Ohio.

Both say it's driving them crazy.

There have been a lot of studies of "needs washed" as a regional feature in American English. While the epicenter seems to be western Pennsylvania, particularly Pittsburgh, it can also be found in portions of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia.

The construction "needs washed" appears to be from Scots-Irish. It primarily occurs with "needs," but you can also find it with "wants" or "likes." For example, "the dog wants petted" or "the plant likes watered every day."

Some of you may be thinking that you would never use this construction or that it isn't part of your particular variety of American English. If you think about though, it may start to become more natural. For example, you might be able to say something like, "This needs taken care of first." Or maybe something like "There's so much that needs said."

In short, the "needs washed" construction is a grammatical² construction for the dialects that use it. Other dialects use "needs to be washed," but both constructions are systematic³: it just depends on which variety of American English you happen to speak.

Does your particular dialect have any unique grammatical constructions?

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 grammatical   

adj.语法的，符合语法规则的

参考例句：

• His composition is excellent except for some grammatical mistakes.他的作文写得很好，只有几处语法错误。
• He can barely form a grammatical sentence.他几乎造不出合乎语法的句子。

3 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。