A person I know often drops the “to be” which would normally be before the verb in a sentence. He’ll say things like:
- That needs fixed.
- It needs upgraded.
- They need looked at.
rather than
- That needs to be fixed.
- It needs to be upgraded.
- They need to be looked at.
Is this just a personal quirk? Is it colloquial or archaic? It it grammatically correct? Does it have a name?
Answer
Dropping the “to be” is grammatically incorrect, and colloquialisms are words or phrases, not habits, so it isn’t a colloquialism. It’s actually a regional dialect, used often in the southern United States but most famously attributed to Pittsburghese: http://theglassblock.com/2016/07/07/pittsburghese-expertise-dropping-to-be/
If you want to see more people who do this, look here:
https://www.facebook.com/GrammarGirl/posts/10150827196390228
The umbrella term for this habit is zero copula, but I don’t believe there is any other (aside from needs verbed).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_copula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)#Zero_copula
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Billy Pilgrim , Answer Author : natbergu