'empty space flat' vs. 'empty flat'

[Alba]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #103 "Agatha Christie test questions", question 6

The police found her ......... flat but there was no sign of Agatha Christie.

(a) empty
(b) emptiness
(c) empty space

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #103 "Agatha Christie test questions", answer 6

The police found her empty flat but there was no sign of Agatha Christie.

Correct answer: (a) empty

Your answer was: incorrect
The police found her empty space flat but there was no sign of Agatha Christie.
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Why is not correct empty space?

Alba

[Pamela]

Why "space" if there is already a "flat"."Space" is redundant.

[Conchita]

[Phuongtoai]

There is a mistake in the question. it was ''The police found her flat empty and there was no sign of Agatha Christie''.

[Alan]

Hi,

That's just another way of saying the same thing.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Duccuong]

Alan, you're right, but not completely. We can say both "find her emply flat" (1) or "find her flat empty" (2). Normally for (1), the status of her flat (emply) is not a bid deal. Instead, we want to concentrate on the fact that we finally find her flat (so "empty" is just like a bonus, kind of extra information). However for (2), "empty" here is very important. With this sentence, we intentionally search / comb her flat and it is empty (the result that we find). Hope this can help.

DC