ICAO Level 4 Vocabulary: A person, Persons or People?

Three words that seem almost identical but there are some differences in the use. Read the following guide and be sure you know the definitions and try to avoid making these elementary mistakes.

A person

We use it to describe one human being:

She’s such a nice person.

Persons

“Persons” is used in very formal and legal-oriented texts:

Five persons only. (a notice in a lift)

Stakeholders are any persons or groups who will be affected by an action.

People

To refer to humans in general, we use “people”:

Gene and Betty are such a nice people.

People are usually friendly to each other.