The Verb "To Be"

[AccruedExpenditure]

The wall needs painting
The grass needs cutting
The OP needs banning.

 

[imported_DocHolliday]

thank god this irritates somebody else... I've mentioned it to people around here and they just say "i've never noticed" it makes me CRAZY. There's a woman at my work (not too bright to begin with) who constantly says "this needs done" if you say that to yourself outloud doesn't it sound completely retarded? And I memorized those damn helping verbs in the 7th grade and i can't forget them. I guess that little excercise in memorization did the trick...

 

[Jeff7]

It happens in Erie, PA a lot too. Plenty of people at the college here are from Pittsburg, so I figured it was from that area. I guess not.
The best thing I notice is that the word "across" has a "t" at the end of it. That's how it's commonly pronounced here.


I personally tire of hearing the phrase, "I'm not gonna lie." It's often tacked on to the end of a sentence, apparently to give some sort of emphasis to whatever was said.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: markgm
This is too funny! A teacher friend of mine rides me that I sometimes omit 'to be.' "This wall needs painted." I grew up in Western PA! Right or wrong, here is how I learned it:

What does the wall need?
It needs paint on it.
What will the condition of the wall be after you apply paint?
Painted.

So the wall therefore needs painted. 🙂

It's very popular in Western PA.

It needs to be painted, or
It needs painting

but around here it's very common to hear "needs painted". I can't totally break myself of that habit even though I know it's wrong. But I don't consider myself a "moron".

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman
Conjugations of the verb "to be" aren't used in Arabic.

To say, "I am an American," you only say, "I American"

A guy named b0mbrman who speaks Arabic? Sit tight, the FBI is on their way over 😉

 

[hzl eyed grl]

I use "to be".