Mohamed Allam
when to use the word "people" as a plural, and when do we use it as a singular? I was chatting with a friend of mine and we had a discussion about using the word "people" in this sentence "There is some people here who are coffee addicts.". So, I decided to search for the answer but I got confused about using the word "people" as a singular and as a plural, so what is the rule of using it in both ways?
Nov 10, 2018 5:23 PM
Answers · 2
5
You should say "There are some people" (not "is"). In nearly all contexts, people is a plural noun. One person, many people. Here, "people" means many individual human beings. There is another specialized use where "a people" means a tribe, a nation. You might talk about, for instance, "The peoples of the Mediterranean lands". This is much less common, and somewhat formal sounding. Note: in some situations, especially official statements by government officials, you might see "persons" being used as the plural of "person", instead of "people". For instance, the police usually talk about "missing persons". But in everyday use, "people" is just the plural of "person".
November 10, 2018
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!