"I need clarification on this issue."
OR
"I need to be clarified on this issue."
Would they be equally natural? Is there a difference in meaning?
The first is correct; the second isn't.
I am from western Pennsylvania. I understand your statement completely. You need the work done. You need the issue clarified. Which means you need someone to do the work so that it is then "done." Or someone to clarify the meaning to you.
That's not standard English, however useful and concise this formulation is.
Even in the standard English phrasing "I need this issue to be clarified" it is understood that you need someone else to do the clarifying.
Last edited by ostap77; 03-Nov-2011 at 13:12.
I believe we discussed this very utterance a couple weeks ago.
It sounds OK to me this way. Perhaps this type of use will become standard.