something needs to change Or something needs to be changed?

Question

Which one is correct?

• something needs to change
• something needs to be changed

The first one is what I met most. But I think should use the second one, because something can't change by itself, it needs someone to change it.

Answer 1

Both are correct and idiomatic.

The verb "change" can be used without an object to mean that it changes by itself. Grammarians call verbs like this "ergative"

So when we can say "Something needs to be changed" to explicitly mean "Someone needs to change something". But usually we only care about about the change happening (we don't care why or how the change happens) so we would just say "Something needs to change". What we need is "a change" and not "somebody changing".

We can use other ergative verbs in the same way.

That water needs to boil. / That water needs to be boiled.

The first is about the state of the water, the second is about the action of boiling.

With "change" the form without an object is useful when the cause for the change comes from within. I can say "I will change". I don't need to say "I will change myself". There are many situations when something can change by itself, because the change comes from within.