[General] PERSONS ?

[Mauricio67]

Please,

Is there a plural of PERSON ?

I read in a book, and for me the plural of PERSON was only PEOPLE .

:lol:

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, there is a word "persons" but in 95% of the contexts you are likely to be writing in, "people" will be the better choice.

 

[billmcd]

"Persons" is OK too in certain contexts, but "people" is probably used more frequently.

 

[BobK]

A common use for 'persons' is the formula* 'person or persons unknown', often used by the police when they don't know who did something.

*I say 'formula' because it's regularly used in that form, although I wouldn't say it's idiomatic, because most people either don't have a reason to use it or use some more modern equivalent like 'someone, or maybe more than one, but we don't know who'.

b

 

[Tdol]

It's used quite a lot in legal language.

 

[mara_ce]

Is there a plural of PERSON ?

The plural of person is usually people.
Persons is used mainly in public notices and other formal contexts:
´Seating capacity - 12 persons.´
(Dictionary of Common Errors)