{"id":5303,"date":"2016-08-12T00:19:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T04:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/?p=5303"},"modified":"2016-08-12T00:19:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T04:19:35","slug":"persons-vs-people-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/persons-vs-people-difference","title":{"rendered":"Persons vs. People: What\u2019s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"bccef0f480416e3e00e77029789ea906\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: right; margin:10px 0 10px 10px;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Beginning of Post Default -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6482188744286371\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7571860708\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Because languages shift over time, some words drop out of common usage and are replaced by others. This is the case with persons and people.<\/p>\n<p><em>People<\/em> and <em>persons<\/em> both refer to groups of two or more individuals. In the past, <em>persons<\/em> had referred to specific numbers, whereas <em>people<\/em> was used for general groups.<\/p>\n<p>However, this distinction isn\u2019t as strictly applied in modern English. Read on to find out why.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the Difference Between Persons and People?<\/h2>\n<p>In this article, I will compare person vs. people. I\u2019ll use each word in a sentence, and, at the end, I\u2019ll show you a helpful trick to remember whether you should use people or persons in your writing.<\/p>\n<h2>When to Use People<\/h2>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5304\" src=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Persons-versus-people.png\" alt=\"Persons versus people\" width=\"342\" height=\"99\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Persons-versus-people.png 342w, https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Persons-versus-people-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/>What does people mean?<\/strong> <em>People<\/em>, as a plural <a href=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/grammar-dictionary\/noun\">noun<\/a>, refers to <em>two or more individuals<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>If Keri is a person and Chris is a person, then Keri and Chris are two people.<\/p>\n<p><em>People<\/em> can be used in reference to any group of two or more individuals, like in the following examples.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Because the weather was so bad, only 700 people attended the baseball game.<\/li>\n<li>Over 3,000 people voted for the millage, but it still did not pass.<\/li>\n<li>Amanda, Catherine, and Jodi were the only three people that I knew at the party.<\/li>\n<li>Wendy&#8217;s is the latest major fast-food chain to report weaker-than-expected sales growth, with the hamburger company saying people aren&#8217;t dining out as much because it has gotten even cheaper to eat at home. \u2013<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2016\/08\/10\/business\/ap-us-earns-wendys.html\" target=\"_blank\">The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>When to Use Persons<\/h2>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5305\" src=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Define-people-and-persons-mucous.png\" alt=\"Define people and persons mucous\" width=\"342\" height=\"99\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Define-people-and-persons-mucous.png 342w, https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Define-people-and-persons-mucous-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/>What does persons mean? <\/strong><em>Persons<\/em> also means <em>two or more people. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the past, <em>persons<\/em> referred to a specific number of individuals, whereas <em>people<\/em> was used in a more general sense. You would not use persons in reference to groups of large or indeterminate size, such as a room full of students, the crowd at a football game, or the population of Sudan.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the use of <em>persons<\/em> has narrowed to specific phrases, usually in a legal or law enforcement context.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a small, specific number, like three bank robbers or two runaway children, you might choose to say persons of interest or missing persons instead, as the case may be.<\/p>\n<p>See the following sentences as examples.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The police are searching for three persons of interest in connection with the armed robbery of a bank Tuesday night.<\/li>\n<li>The mother filed a missing persons report for her two children.<\/li>\n<li>Two of three people investigators questioned as persons of interest Wednesday have been released, but the third remains in custody. \u2013<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyherald.com\/article\/20160811\/news\/160819786\/\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Daily Herald<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Outside of these situations, persons is not commonly used.<\/p>\n<h2>Trick to Remember the Difference<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5306\" src=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Definition-of-persons-definition.png\" alt=\"Definition of persons definition \" width=\"342\" height=\"99\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Definition-of-persons-definition.png 342w, https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Definition-of-persons-definition-300x87.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/>It\u2019s difficult to justify using persons outside of certain, set phrases, like <em>persons of interest<\/em> or <em>missing persons<\/em>. In contemporary English, <em>persons<\/em> sounds stilted and unnatural.<\/p>\n<p>For the phrases outlined above, remember that <em>persons<\/em> is <em>specific<\/em> and both words contain the letter <strong>S<\/strong>. You should only use persons in specific contexts referring to a specified number of individuals.<\/p>\n<h2>Summary: Persons vs. People<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Is it persons or people?<\/strong> In the past, <em>persons<\/em> referred to a specific number of individuals. Meanwhile, people was used to refer more generally to large groups, or groups whose size was not specified.<\/p>\n<p>Today, <em>people<\/em> has largely replaced <em>persons<\/em> in all contexts, outside of a few set phrases. You can remember to reserve <em>persons<\/em> for small groups of a specific number of people, since <em>persons<\/em> and <em>specific<\/em> both contain the letter <strong>S<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In most cases, however, you will use <em>people<\/em>. If you are having a hard time choosing between <em>persons<\/em> or <em>people<\/em> in your writing, you can refer back to this article.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because languages shift over time, some words drop out of common usage and are replaced by others. This is the case with persons and people. People and persons both refer to groups of two or more individuals. In the past, persons had referred to specific numbers, whereas people was used for general groups. However, this &#8230; <a title=\"Persons vs. People: What\u2019s the Difference?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/writingexplained.org\/persons-vs-people-difference\" aria-label=\"Read more about Persons vs. People: What\u2019s the Difference?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_aToxMjE2OTc5NDg2Ow==_1216979486":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Persons vs. People: What\u2019s the Difference? - Writing Explained<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"STOP. 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