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Gene93 Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary
A vacant/empty/free/unoccupied seat
Hello, everybody,
If I were in a movie theater and nobody was sitting next to me, could I say: "The seat next to me is vacant"? Does it sound overly weird to your native ears? I realize that free/empty are probably the most natural choices, but I just want to know if "vacant" is also acceptable.
Thank you
If I were in a movie theater and nobody was sitting next to me, could I say: "The seat next to me is vacant"? Does it sound overly weird to your native ears? I realize that free/empty are probably the most natural choices, but I just want to know if "vacant" is also acceptable.
Thank you
Top answer
" is entirely correct. It can sound a little formal, though, in certain contexts, for example: A: Is anybody sitting here? B: The seat next to me is vacant/free.
- " is entirely correct.
- It can sound a little formal, though, in certain contexts, for example: A: Is anybody sitting here?
- B: The seat next to me is vacant/free.
- Other ways of saying this, more informally, are: C: Anybody sitting here?
- D: No, it's empty.
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3 Answers
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"The seat next to me is vacant/free." is entirely correct. It can sound a little formal, though, in certain contexts, for example:
A: Is anybody sitting here?
B: The seat next to me is vacant/free.
Other ways of saying this, more informally, are:
C: Anybody sitting here?
D: No, it's empty.
E: Can I sit here?
F: Yeah, no one's sitting there.
A: Is anybody sitting here?
B: The seat next to me is vacant/free.
Other ways of saying this, more informally, are:
C: Anybody sitting here?
D: No, it's empty.
E: Can I sit here?
F: Yeah, no one's sitting there.
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Gene93Does it sound overly weird to your native ears?It does sound a bit weird.
The other person sees no one sitting in the seat, so it is vacant, empty, or unoccupied.
But they want to know if they can sit there. They know I might be saving it for a friend who just went to get us some popcorn, so they ask if they can sit there.
I woul
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Thank you. I realize there are a lot of ifs. Maybe someone was sitting next to me,but he went to the toilet. That's just a suggestion. I think that vacant means "not being used/available''. In our context it also means free/empty. I just want to know if it is acceptable. I have never used it in everyday English and I have been to English speaking countries quite a few times
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