Discussion
In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that improves it. If the sentence needs no change, choose ‘No improvement’.
The furniture in the conference room were replaced last week.
Answer: B
Correct answer: was
Furniture is uncountable and takes a singular verb: the furniture was replaced. It has no plural, so furnitures is also wrong, and it cannot take a or an. To refer to one item a unit noun is required: a piece of furniture, three items of furniture. It belongs to the group of nouns countable in many Indian languages but not in English: information, advice, luggage, baggage, machinery, stationery, equipment, scenery, poetry, evidence, bread and news. Each takes a singular verb and is quantified with much and less. The singular conference room in the intervening phrase has no bearing on the agreement; the subject remains the furniture. The passive is correctly used, since the furniture received the action rather than performing it.
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