Japanese/the Japanese

[GoesStation]

You should be aware that the countable use of "people" is rare and easy to abuse. You can easily avoid it in your own writing by saying, for example, "nation" or "ethnic group".

 

[Rachel Adams]

You should be aware that the countable use of "people" is rare and easy to abuse. You can easily avoid it in your own writing by saying, for example, "nation" or "ethnic group".

Yes, non-natives should be careful.
The dictionary says 'a people' is used with either a singular or plural verb but I understand that using 'is' in my example is wrong. 'They is a brave people'. Could you please suggest an example where 'a people' is used with a singular verb?

 

[GoesStation]

Yes, non-natives should be careful.
The dictionary says 'a people' is used with either a singular or plural verb but I understand that using 'is' in my example is wrong. 'They is a brave people'. Could you please suggest an example where 'a people' is used with a singular verb?

"They" is a plural pronoun, so it can never be followed by a singular verb — unless it's surrounded by quotation marks as in this sentence. (You will sometimes see it as a singular in dialect.)

I really wouldn't pursue the question of the singular use of "people". You'll find it occasionally in literary texts, especially older ones. Now that you know how to understand it, I think you can more profitably devote your attention to more common usages.