| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
| |
| people, persons (nn.) |
| |
| |
| There is a fair-sized history of complaint about the use of people as a plural with specific numbers, and some older conservatives still don’t like the practice. But both seven people and seven persons are Standard, with people getting a good deal more use than persons. Any difference is stylistic; to some people, persons may seem a bit more formal. Note too that recently person has replaced -man as the second element of many occupational compounds: chairperson, spokesperson, deliveryperson, and the like turn up fairly frequently, along with even newer coinages. Some may catch on and remain in the vocabulary; others may fade quickly. See INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE; SEXIST LANGUAGE. | 1 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
