"魅力ある人" vs "魅力がある人" vs "魅力のある人"

Question

I saw all occurrences. To me '魅力(noun)+が+ある'(simplified clause) + 人(noun) sounds more correct.

Can someone help on the differences: 魅力ある人 魅力がある人 魅力のある人

Answer 1

魅力のある人 and 魅力がある人 are interchangeable because there is a grammatical rule called ga-no conversion. Note that this only applies when 魅力がある works as a relative clause modifying a noun. 彼には魅力がある is fine but 彼には魅力のある is ungrammatical. See: How does the の work in 「日本人の知らない日本語」?

魅力ある人 is relatively less common but correct. It sounds a little literary because it uses the grammar of old Japanese, where the subject marker が was rarely used. There are some fixed, literary, adjective-like expressions in the form of noun + ある ("-ful") or noun + なき/ない ("-less"):

• 心ある人 hearty person
• 心なき人／心ない人 heartless person
• 形ある物 material/tangible thing
• 形なき物 immaterial/intangible/formless thing
• 家なき子 Sans Famille (novel) / homeless child
• 余りある食料 a great abundance of food (more than necessary)

These are basically fixed adjective-like expressions, and new ones are rarely coined. You have to remember which noun can take this form one by one.