What is the difference in “persons” and “people”?

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And when would they be used properly?

I grew up using only “people” then I feel like one day the words “persons” started to get used in society and I don’t know why or when to use it.

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17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Answer: People is more broad but persons is slightly more personal

People are in large idiots, some persons are fine

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

If English is not your first language, you can safely exclude “persons” from your vocabulary. The term seems to stem from crime reporting, where there may be one or more… persons. Because the singular and plural are different words, you are stuck with either “The crime was committed by one or more people” or “one or more persons”. I think “persons” is slightly less bad.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The difference largely depends on context.

*Fowler’s* has an interesting entry on the matter.

In a legal context, the difference can be important. It may also be used in formal speech to avoid ambiguity when referring to individuals operating separately rather than a group.

There’s also the distinction of a people (the people of Iraq, the Jewish people, etc.) Interestingly, I’ve heard *persons of color* is gaining traction as an alternative to *people of color*.

In the end, it’s a matter of style (style guide, I mean). Consult APA, MLA, Chicago, OUP, etc. and stick to the applicable one. That’s my advice.

Anonymous 0 Comments

We use the singular person. And say it to be more inclusive, in place of ‘men’ is some words, like we say ‘chairperson’ not ‘chairman’.

But not sure on ‘persons’, although you do hear ‘Persons who want to make booking xyz, and so on..

Anonymous 0 Comments

Persons is the original plural form of person. However, many centuries ago people started using people as the plural form of persons even though it has a totally different etymology.

Today, most people use people as the plural of persons even though persons may persist in some more formal writings.

Anonymous 0 Comments

People refers to a group e.g those people, we the people, people person.

Persons refers to more than one individual who may or may not be part of a group. It is largely used in formal context when ambiguity can arise from grouping people or persons together.

Unless you work in law, science or journalism you are unlikely to ever need to use “persons” as the distinction is not needed in most situations

Anonymous 0 Comments

Well when I started learning English, I bought an English-English dictionary. “People” is “persons” according to the dictionary.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’ve used “people” when I didn’t know who they were and “persons” when I knew a majority by name.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Like they’re waiting for your guard to fall

So they can see it all and you’re so

Occupied with what other [persons](https://youtu.be/eZ7MFTBjJS8) are

Occupied with and vice versa