people/persons

[vkhu]

At school, I'm told that people is the only accepted plural form of person yet in some documents or on a few signs and notices, I still see persons being used. What is the distinction between these two words?

 

[Raymott]

At school, I'm told that people is the only accepted plural form of person yet in some documents or on a few signs and notices, I still see persons being used. What is the distinction between these two words?

What you were told in school is wrong.
Here's one view. There are others.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/people-versus-persons/

 

[Tdol]

I see persons used mostly in legal texts or where people want to sound lawyerly or official.

BTW People, in the sense of a nation or similar grouping, can be used in the plural- the peoples of the world (seen as separate groups and not as a single species)

 

[Raymott]

Persons is also used extensively in philosophy as the first line of the article below, and the Bibliography proves:
Personal Identity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

 

[Tdol]

Persons is also used extensively in philosophy as the first line of the article below, and the Bibliography proves:
Personal Identity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

I must get round to reading more philosophy.