Below each of the following sentences, three possible substitutes are given for the underlined part. If one of them is better than the underlined part, indicate your response on the Answer-Sheet against the corresponding letter (A), (B) or (C). If none of the substitutes improves the sentence, indicate (D) as your response on the Answer-sheet.

All the furniture need to be shifted outside.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

BPSC AE Paper 1 (General English) 2012 Official Paper

Answer 1

The correct answer is option 1, i.e., needs to be.

The sentence uses the incorrect plural verb 'need to be'.
Furniture- the movable articles that are used to make a room or building suitable for living or working in, such as tables, chairs, or desks.
Furniture is an uncountable noun. i.e., it refers to an abstract idea of something rather than a specific object.
So, when using plural for furniture, we say pieces of furniture and not furnitures.
Rule: Uncountable nouns are always used with a singular verb. e.g. water, knowledge etc.
So, the correct verb here must be the singular 'needs to be'.

Thus, the rectified sentence is: All the furniture needs to be shifted outside.