The demise of “to be” before verbs

[Ted22]

This is something I never came across in my first 30+ years of life, but now in the last couple of years it seems to be everywhere!

”He needs rescued” is an example I just saw. Instead of “He needs to be rescued.”

”It needs washed”

“The cat needs fed”

Etc.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in this? Surely “needs to be” OR “the cat needs feeding” is correct.

I am sure that this has always existed in certain regions, but is it now increasingly used across the UK?

I've only ever seen it on here and it drives me nuts!

I detest this too! I see it everyday online.

Standards really do seem to have declined significantly.

Can I go toilet?

I’ve only ever seen it on here. I just assume posters have poor literacy.

Fascinating. Thank you!

I've never heard this before. I'm going to listen out for it now.

I'm rather envious of those of you who haven't seen much of this. I see it everywhere and every time it grates.

Definitely used by Scottish folk. My ex's family. I'd never heard of it till I met his them, he used 'standard' English.

I've only seen that used on here but the one I can't stand lately is the omission of 'and', mainly by businesses e.g 'come try out our new menu' 'come see us' etc.

And the worst - 'you got this'
HAVE got this, ngngng...

Another one is ‘I’m sat at the front’. No, you’re sitting at the front. I’m is present tense and sat is past….🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

It drives me mad. A lovely friend of mine says things like "Going Tesco" or "Been Sainsbury's" Lazy speech.

I do this, and bad grammar really annoys me

Argh ' that needs washed' - it makes my teeth itch.

Glad to know I'm not alone! :)

"The cat needs fed" and your other examples seem totally normal to me.

I don't think it's 'wrong'.

Well, okay. Then I mourn the demise of Standard [British] English. Standard Scots/Welsh/Irish English might be their own things, too; I don't know. But I think it's fair enough to want 'correct', standardised language.

Linguistic laissez-faire needs gone! 😉 English is mutating fast enough already; if we lose hold of syntax and verb forms at the same time, none of us will be able to make ourselves understood (only slightly hyperbolic).

Do you think Standard English (of any variety) is necessary on social media and the likes? Most of us don't fully use standard English when speaking to a friend or family member - we use dialect, regional phrases, slang.

I think people should use standard English (and yes there's bloody loads of them!) when writing formal documents, but I think social media and MN etc are conversational and so love seeing the variations.

For me this one always sounds fine spoken aloud when you can hear its associated accent but looks really wrong written down.

I have noticed this and it is awful. As others have said it is particularly jarring when written and sounds really stupid with an English / southern accent.

That's given me a good giggle!

I've only seen it on Mumsnet but it's awful!

Very normal in Scottish English.

I’ve noticed this. It’s crept over from the USA (you see it in a lot of kindle books). It drives me nuts.

Still not correct English, surely? People seem to confuse regional accents with bad grammar.

You can’t force your language on people and not expect them to adapt it.

Hiberno-english has grammar and syntax which directly comes from Gaelic. “I do be” for example.

Its our linguistic rebellion.