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We use person in the singular to refer to any human being: Joel is such a nice person. She’s a person I have a lot of respect for. Persons (plural) is a very formal word. We only use it in rather legalistic contexts: [notice in a lift] Any person or persons found in possession of illegal substances will be prosecuted.
Both persons and people can be used as plural forms of person. Persons is often used in formal, legal contexts to emphasize individuals as opposed to a group. People is the plural of person that’s most commonly used in everyday communication to simply refer to multiple humans.
The plural of person should be people in the vast majority of contexts, although legalese uses the plural persons. Peoples should be reserved for instances where you are referring to more than one distinct ethnic group.
Many usage guides over the years have suggested that there is a clear distinction between these two words; people is used when referring to a collective group or indeterminate number, and persons serves better when referring to individuals or to a number of individuals.
The terms people and persons are both plural forms of the word person, but they’re not used in the same situations. People is generally the correct term to use when referring to more than one person — but there are a few important exceptions when you should use persons instead.
“Persons” vs. “People” If you’re here, you may be asking yourself, “is persons grammatically correct?” The answer is that technically speaking, it’s not wrong. But people has become the more common word to use when referring to person in the plural form. In fact, some style guides explicitly state not to use the word persons.
People vs. Persons: The Plural of Person. Both persons and people are what we call collective nouns, and both are the plural forms of the singular noun person. Wait, they’re both the correct term? Yes and no. Let me explain.