What's the most common way to ask someone, if a particular seat is already taken (of course other than asking:"is this seat taken" or "is this seat free"?)
I mean what sounds more natural and what is more common "someone" or "anyone" (both of them are correct, but which one is more common and more likely to be spoken out of the two?)
Is someone sitting here?
Is anyone sitting here?
Best Answer
The most common way that I have heard is simply just as you said, to ask, "Is this seat taken?"
After that, in my experience would be:
"Is someone sitting there?"
"Is anyone sitting there?"
"Is there someone sitting there?"
"Is that seat free?"
"Is it OK if I sit there?"
in approximately that order of frequency. All sound fine, and are easily understood. I'm sure there are lots of other possibilities too. Perhaps the ones that are used most would depend on the region and type of English.
Normally though, I personally think you would use "there" or "that seat" rather than "here" or "this seat", since you aren't yet taking "possession" of the seat, and it is still at some linguistic "distance" from you.