quote:

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Twelve persons attended the first face to face class, the other people should feel free to join us on line.

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Is persons actually a gramatically correct plural of person?

If so, what is the difference between persons and people?
 

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Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
 
"Twelve persons attended the first face to face class, the other people should feel free to join us on line."

Don't know about "persons" but I do suspect that it should be "face-to-face" and also that the comma after "class" must be a semicolon instead...
 

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
Persons is legit; however, if he's going to use it in the first clause, he should also use it in the second.
 

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Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
 
If a grammar Communist can butt in on the discussion, I'd like to suggest that possibly the plural of 'person' is 'personae'? But I admit that would be vastly formal. 'People' is undoubtedly better than 'persons,' though.
 

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Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
Godwin's Law! Godwin's Law!

Sorry, reflex.

Please resume your discussion.

-Trevor
 

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Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
Off the top of my head, "personae" refers to "persona," which is different than "person."

I always think of "persons" as a more politically correct way of saying "people," as in "persons of Asian descent."

And phanto is right--that comma should be a semicolon.
 

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Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
 
I believe the correct usage is "persons" for referring to multiple individuals and "people" for referring to the group of individuals as a unit. Subtle and not always clear-cut.

quote:

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Many persons wandered about and picked up pamphlets.

The people gave him a standing ovation.

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quote:

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Generally, "people" is the plural of "person." "Peoples" can refer to a group or groups of culturally defined groups, as in the "peoples of eastern Europe." The choice between "people" and "persons" is not always easy, though. There used to be a rule that persons is used when speaking of a number of people who can be counted and people is used when speaking of a large or uncounted number of individuals.

quote:

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-There are fifteen persons on this committee but three hundred million people in the United States.
-We can put twelve persons in each lifeboat.
-How many people visit this mall every year?

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According to Burchfield, however, the plural form persons is slowly retreating, and people is now widely used in whatever circumstance we need the plural of person.

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quote:

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If a grammar Communist can butt in on the discussion, I'd like to suggest that possibly the plural of 'person' is 'personae'?

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Wouldn't it be comrade? Or personinsky?
 

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Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
 
I believe AP style doesn't allow the word "persons" and insists on "people" instead.

I know my news editor would have a cow if we used "persons" in a story.

On the other hand, she uses "and I" incorrectly when she should say "and me" and that drives me a little nuts.
 

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Posted by Shepherdess (Member # 6115) on :
 
According to my dictionary, I don't see a plural form for the word "person" at all.

In addition, there should be either a semicolon or a conjunction ("and" or "but") after the comma since it's a run-on sentence as written.
 

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Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
 
I see "persons" in my dictionaries (Merriam-Webster online, American Heritage unabridged), but it is noted that this usage is being replaced by "people" (language evolves). Your dictionary might be abridged to the point that it does not contain many words, although this may be entirely appropriate for its intended use.

And as CaySedai notes, the AP Stylebook 2004 recommends "people" instead of "persons" except in quotes or titles such as The Bureau of Missing Persons.
 

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