Person vs Persons vs People vs Peoples - English in a Minute

167,731 views ・ 2018-06-25

BBC Learning English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi, I’m Dan from BBC Learning English
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and today I’m going to talk to you about
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person and persons, people and peoples.
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A person is a human man, woman, or child.
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It is a singular countable noun.
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There was one person at the door.
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The plural of person is people.
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It refers to a group or a number of human beings.
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It is a plural countable noun.
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There were three people at the door.
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So how about persons?
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Persons is a plural countable noun.
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It's similar to people, but it's considered more polite
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and more formal.
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It’s most often seen written down.
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This lift can hold a maximum of 15 persons.
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And peoples?
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Peoples is the countable plural form of people
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and comes from the other meaning of people.
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People can mean nation.
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The Aztecs were a people that lived in the Americas.
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Or,
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there are many peoples living on the Earth.
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They are all human
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- so far.
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