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Have you been part of the furniture? Are you a sofa or a table? Peace! Oh before you react violently, read on to find out what I really mean…

I learned an English expression while listening on a podcast from the BBC. I was cleaning the dining table and I thought why not share it here on MyEnglishclub. It is called ‘part of the furniture’. It is an expression we use to describe someone or something that’s been in the same place for a very long time. You could think that he or she will be there forever (BBC Learning English).

Check out these examples;

• Manu Ginobili has been playing for the Spurs team for more than 25 years. Many fans think he’s part of the furniture.
• Villainelle has been working in the agency since 2000. It’s no doubt she’s part of the furniture.
• The Soursop tree bears fruit every summer and it was planted a decade ago. The owner thought of it as part of the furniture.

So, did you get it? Easy peasy, right? Literally, if you’re really part of the furniture, what would you be and why? :P

Grammar Note

Furniture is an uncountable noun. Other common uncountable nouns are news, luggage, information, and advice. Since they are uncountable, we use ‘measure words’ or ‘quantifiers’ to count them. We can say ‘a piece of’, ‘pieces of’ or ‘some’ for furniture. For example, Robin brought some pieces of furniture from Italy and they looked expensive.

Check out this link for other uncountable nouns.

https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/nouns-uncountable-list.htm

Thank you for reading this blog! Happy learning!