This page affords one a good example of the advanced topics covered in my online Business English Portfolio.

1. Student's Name:
The verb need can be found employed as a modal auxiliary verb in American English to express
obligation or necessity e,g,. Your mother need not wait for us; Your mother need not have waited for
us; He need wait but ten minutes for a table; We need have waited but ten minutes for the bus to come.
As a modal auxilliary verb, need has, but one form, i.e. Form I + the bare infinitive. The paradigm is as
follows:
I need wait We need wait I need not wait We need not wait
You need wait You need wait You need not wait You need not wait
He need wait They need wait He need not wait They need not wait
She need wait She need not wait
It need wait It need not wait
I need have waited We need have waited
You need have waited You need have waited
He need have waited They need have waited
She need have waited
It need have waited
I need not have waited We need not have waited
You need not have waited You need not have waited
He need not have waited They need not have waited
She need not have waited
It need not have waited
Need can also occur as a regular verb with four principal parts:
Form I Form II Form III Form IV
need needed needed needing
Transitive verb: to want or lack something; to be under some sort of obligation
or necessity, e.g. Jack needs to work tomorrow; I need ten dollars; No one needs
to help Grandma. She can stand up on her own.
The paradigm of the present tense is as follows:
I need We need I do not need We do not need
You need You need You do not need You do not need
He needs They need He doesn't need They do not need
She needs She doesn't need
It needs It doesn't need
It is easy to see how the modal form developed from the regular verb, e.g. Grandma needs no help to
Revised by Mark M. Garrow 02/03/2015 1

2. Student's Name:
stand; You need not help Grandma to stand. Grandma is quite strong and can easily stand on her own.
She may be ninety, but she still plays tennis everyday. You need to speak French here. No one
understands English.
Directions: Fill in the blanks with need or needs in each of the following diagogues.
In OpenOffice use the overtype key (control plus insert) to do this.
Boss: It's going to rain tomorrow, so you _____ not come to work tomorrow.
Come only if you want to and _____ the money.
Mary: My husband, Jack, _____ the money, so he is going to work tomorrow.
Sally: My husband _____ not work tomorrow. He has plenty of money. I hope
he takes the day off.
Boss: Your husband _____ not explain why he's not coming to work tomorrow.
I'm happy to have him take the day off.
Mary: My husband doesn't _____ to explain why he's taking the day off.
He's a hard worker and I know he's exhausted.
Amy: My husband _____ not explain why he is taking the day off. I do what
I want to do when I want to do it and he does what he wants to do when
he wants to do it.
Sue: I keep my hubby on a short leash. He _____ to explain eveything he does
and why he does it. He's a good guy and I love him dearly, but he isn't
exactly the sharpest tack in the pack when it comes to business.
Ann: I lost interest in what my husband does a long time ago. He's an old-time,
Italian-American mafiosi. and as crooked as a snake. He makes Anthony
Soprano, his first cousin, look like a saint. Of course, I knew that when I
married him. I am from Brooklyn too. As long as he keeps the money rolling
in, and the mortgage paid, he _____ explain nothing to me or to his mother.
As the old saying goes, "ignorance in bliss." I have no idea where the bodies
are buried. I own the house.
Revised by Mark M. Garrow 02/03/2015 2