以前有一條英文文法的法則,”People” 是用來代表一群不可數的人,而 “Persons” 則是用來代表一群可數的人。
(1) There were so many people at the dinner party last night.
昨晚的派對有很多人參加。[不曉得真正有多少人]
(2) There were ten persons at the dinner party last night.
昨晚的派對有十個人參加。
可是現在已經沒有那麼嚴格,所以如果把(2)改成以下的句子(3)也是正確的。
(3) There were ten people at the dinner party last night.
昨晚的派對有十個人參加。
基本上現在只有在法律界或執法界的人才會用 “Persons” 這個英文單字,像合約、警察報告等都會用 “Persons”,比如 「失蹤人口」的英文是 “Missing persons” 而不是 “Missing people”,「嫌疑人士」是 “Persons of interest” 而不是 “People of interest”喔。