| 词组 | need |
| 释义 | need I Chambers 1985 says that need takes for except in the phrases have need of and in need of. Bernstein 1962 thinks that choosing for rather than of avoids the possibility that the reader could misinterpret of as being the genitive of (which connects need with the person or thing whose need it is) instead of the idiomatic of (which, like for, connects need with the description of what is needed). Looking at the evidence we have accumulated over just the past few decades, we find that, overall, for and of are used with about equal frequency after need. Of the uses with of, half are for the genitive of and half for the idiomatic of. Uses of the phrase in need of make up about a quarter of the uses of idiomatic of. Both have need of and have need for are used but are less common. So in actual usage, the preposition that follows need is usually for, but of is also a common choice: • ... the need for devising ways —Harvey Wheeler, quoted in Center Mag., November 1969 • ... the need for regular checkups —Glenn V. Car-michael, Ford Times, September 1966 • ... the need of efficiency —Scott Buchanan, "So Reason Can Rule," 1967 • ... a condition in need of amendment —Norman Mailer, Harper's, March 1971 Bernstein's point about the confusion of idiomatic of with genitive of is undercut somewhat by the fact that genitive of usually follows the plural needs rather than the singular need: • ... adapting it to the needs of the welfare state — Current Biography, July 1965 Although the fact is not mentioned by the commentators, need is also commonly followed by to and an infinitive: • ... the need to look into the ecology —Times Literary Supp., 9 Apr. 1970 • ... had the need to confess —Joseph Wambaugh, Lines and Shadows, 1984 II Need is both a finite verb and an auxiliary. In its function as an auxiliary it does not inflect and is followed by the bare infinitive without to: • No pressure group need apply —Harry S. Truman, diary, 20 Sept. 1945 • ... so that Louis need never know —Mavis Gallant, New Yorker, 8 July 1985 • ... all that Johnson or Nguyen need do is enroll — Michael Holzman, College English, March 1984 The finite verb does inflect; when followed by an infinitive, it requires to: • The church bells needed to ring three times —Virginia Black, This England, Summer 1983 It can also be followed by a gerund: • The facts are too well known to need repeating here —Tip O'Neill with William Novak, Man of the House, 1987 A curious construction in which need is followed by a past participle—"my car needs repaired"—is called "widely disliked" by Longman 1984. This may be, in the main, a British oral use that has only recently developed, but we have had one letter from an American about it. Ordinary idiom would call for "needs repairing" or "needs to be repaired." A noun, of course, is also possible: "needs repair." |
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