Talking About Home Technology: ‘Want’ and ‘Need’
| This entry is part of the Talking About Home Technology series. You can find explanations of the boldface words there.
This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry is spoken, so that you can listen to it while you read. (MP3) |
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The words ‘want’ and ‘need’ are often confused. . . even by native speakers. The reason, I think, is that marketing tells us that the things we want are really ‘needs.’
What do the words mean?
Normally, something we need is something we cannot live without: air, water, food, shelter. . . and a fast Internet connection. (Can you guess which of those was a joke?) Of course, there are more contexts for needing something than just living.
If you use a preposition, you can explain why you need something. “I need a laptop for my work.” We use the preposition ‘for’ with ‘need’ when we’re talking about a noun. “I need a GPS system for my car.” “I need a fast Internet connection for Bite-Sized-English.com.” If you want to talk about a verb, you use the preposition ‘to.’ “I need a cell phone to call my wife.” “I need a laptop to read my email at breakfast.” “I need a new digital camera to photograph the baby.”
It’s important to remember that when you use the word ‘need’ like this, it doesn’t mean you can’t live without the thing you’re talking about. It means only that you can’t do one thing, without the other. “I need a computer to write email” only means that I can’t write email without a computer.
The word ‘want’ means only that you would like to have something. Maybe it will make your life better, maybe it won’t. But, you would like to have it. “I want a new car.” Is a good example, so is “I want a new notebook computer.”
And you can use ‘want’ with prepositions the way you use ‘need.’ “I want a GPS for my car.” “I want a faster car for my work.” “I want wireless Internet for my apartment.” “I want a faster computer to play computer games.” “I want a game system to relax in the evening.”
What do you think? Do you need technology these days. . . or is it something that you simply want? What things do you need to do your job? What technologies could make doing your job easier?
