Furniture

Luise   Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:08 pm GMT
What is the plural form for "furniture"? Is it "furnishings"?
Travis   Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:11 pm GMT
"Furniture" is a mass noun, like "water", and thus does not normally have a plural, and functions as if it were effectively plural except that verbs treat it as singular with respect to agreement.
Brennus   Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:40 pm GMT
More often than not 'furniture' is the plural form as in "Our boss had all of the furniture taken out of our office in order to save money." However you can also say that something like a chair or a sofa is a "piece of furniture" or a "furniture item."
Jijia   Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:51 am GMT
A stick of furniture ?
Two sticks of furnitures ?
Uriel   Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:16 am GMT
Usually people say "piece of furniture". Usually the use of "stick" is highly idiomatic, as in "His house didn't have a stick of furniture in it." But you would never use "stick" as a general term, so you would never find yourself saying "two sticks of furniture".
Geoff_One   Tue Nov 01, 2005 7:48 am GMT
I use "items of furniture".
Singular - "piece of furniture".

Jewellery is a similar case study.
Sara   Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:06 pm GMT
What about

all the furniture- all of the furniture- the whole furniture???

and then "was" or "were" ??? "has" or "have"???
greg   Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:19 pm GMT
An <furniture> de MF <fourniture> = « approvisionnement », « accomplissement », « largeur » de AF <forneture> / <fornesture> = « provisions », « action de fournir ». Aussi AF (tardif) <forniture> = « largeur ».

L'étymon AF est dérivé du verbe AF <furnir> = « achever », « parachever (en ajoutant ce qui manque) » ou <fornir> = « exécuter », « réaliser », « produire » ou <fournir> = « pourvoir », « approvisionner ».

L'ancien français aurait emprunté au germanique occidental <frumjan> qui aurait donné <frumman> = « achever », « exécuter » en vieux haut-allemand et <vromen> / <vrumen> = « être utile », « procurer » en haut-allemand moyen.

Ce serait <formir> qui serait entré en ancien français (comme en oc ancien) mais le <m> auarit été modifié en <n> sous l'influence de <garnir>.

Au fait, peut-on dire <article of furniture> en anglais ?
Uriel   Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:18 am GMT
<<What about

all the furniture- all of the furniture- the whole furniture???

and then "was" or "were" ??? "has" or "have"??? >>

You could say "all (of) the furniture" but never "the whole furniture" (unless you were saying something like "the whole furniture industry", where you're using it as an adjective).

Like Travis said, "furniture" is a mass or collective noun, so you would treat it as singular -- use "was" or "has" with it:

All of the furniture was stacked in the garage while we were painting the living room.
lida   Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:37 pm GMT
I agree with Uriel.
Uriel   Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:05 am GMT
Furnishings IS a synonym for furniture, by the way, and it's almost the opposite; you never hear anyone talking about "a furnishing" -- it's always plural (and is treated like a plural when it comes to choosing your verb in the sentence). The word "furnishing" is usually a verb, not a noun:

"I'm furnishing the room in oak and Italian silk"

or

"I'm furnishing you with the appropriate documents."

(In this last sentence, "furnishing" has nothing to do with furniture; it's a synonym for "providing". Just to confuse people further!
u-ngas   Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:27 am GMT
furniture has no plural form... you can make it plural depending on how you express it in your idea.. example.. a set of furniture.
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