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I have a guesthouse and I have a sign saying "available room". Someone told me better to say "room available" Why is this?

Rena
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    Signs are common to be written in short form with be verbs or generally function words dropped e.g. waitress wanted, evenings and weekends which is actually a waitress is wanted here in the evening and on the weekend, so room availabe is short for a room (to rent) is available. Available room is more like labeling a room (this is an available room) than a sign reading a room is available to rent. – Yuri Mar 01 '17 at 18:13
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    @Yuri - That's true, and a good point, but I'd say "room available" even if it wasn't on a sign, e.g., "I hear that you're looking for a place to stay, and it just so happens that I have a room available that you might like." – stangdon Mar 01 '17 at 18:29
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    I feel like this is idiomatic, meaning there is no reason for it. It's just "what people say". After all you wouldn't say to a hungry friend, "Here, I have a sandwich uneaten." – Andrew Mar 01 '17 at 18:31
  • @stangdon right, didn't see it that way as in There are plenty of jobs available in the area.. A good point. Thanks. – Yuri Mar 01 '17 at 18:35
  • @stangdon I don't think that's really related though. That's just a possible position for modifiers in a normal sentence, but I was tempted to retag this question as [headlinese]. – M.A.R. Mar 01 '17 at 18:37
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    Because *available* is a relatively uncommon adjective, it might help to compare I have an empty room* next week* with I have a room empty* next week*. – FumbleFingers Mar 01 '17 at 18:53
  • There's a difference between "I have an available room" and "available room". Which is it that you're asking about? – Catija Mar 01 '17 at 19:37

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This source makes a good classification of adjectives into attributive (premodifying the noun), postpositive (postmodifying the noun), and predicative (those which modify the subject being inside the predicate).

"available" is mentioned as a typically postpositive adjective and, in line with one of the comments above, it is used in that position because it is merely more idiomatic (the source says that postpositive adjectives "are normally found in a number of fixed expressions"). The adjective "available" is in fact usually found after the noun to which it refers: We have a room available / There is a room available.

Gustavson
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  • "available equipment" is grammatical IMO. "available" does appear as an attributive modifier. – M.A.R. Mar 01 '17 at 19:02
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    @M.A.R. Of course it is grammatical. The fact that it is more usually found in post-position does not mean it is incorrect or never found in attributive position. In the Corpus examples at the foot of this entry (http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/available) there are a few examples of "available" in attributive position, but most of them are in post- or predicative position. – Gustavson Mar 01 '17 at 19:06
  • Oh, I misread your answer. I thought you implied it's ungrammatical. Sorry. – M.A.R. Mar 01 '17 at 19:07