Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 66 – Person Persons People
Person / Persons / People
Transcript:
Hello!
We all know that “person” is a singular word in English, but what is the plural? Is it “persons” or “people”, or both?
In General English the plural of “person” is “people”.
We say:
One person; two people;
There were 20 people at my party;
There are a lot of people in this room.
In Legal English we use “persons” as the plural of “person”, because we wish to define specific individuals in a legal or regulatory context.
In Legal English the word “persons” includes legal persons (persone giuridiche) as well as natural persons (persone fisiche), and by using “persons” we stress that we are referring to the legal position of these persons.
We say:
Any persons found trespassing (violazione di domicilio) will be prosecuted
(perseguite penalmente);
Persons with disabilities are entitled to (hanno diritto alla) social protection under the law;
All persons involved in the transaction must provide valid identification;
The contract explicitly states the rights and obligations of the involved persons.
We do not use “persons” in a general English context. If I say “There were 20 persons at my party”, then I am in fact saying “There were 20 legal and natural persons at my party (20 persone giuridiche e fisiche alla mia festa)”.
Finally, please remember that “people” must be followed by the the plural form of the verb. We say:
The people are here (la gente è), not “people is”;
People work hard (le gente lavora), not “people works”.
Thank you very much, and see you next time for more Peter’s Pills to improve your legal English.
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See more about The Natural Person, Legal Entity or Juridical Person and Juridical Personality here: “The Natural Person, Legal Entity or Juridical Person and Juridical Personality Personality” (.PDF).
Legal English – Sommario delle Lezioni
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 66 – Person Persons People
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 65 – Financial Reporting Words
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 64 – Representations and Warranties
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 63 – Machine translations
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 62 – Legal Timelines
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 61 – Liens
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 60 – Test your Legal English
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 59 – Appurtenent vs In gross
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 58 – Building societies and Banks
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 57 – Valid, void and voidable contracts
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 56 – Rescission
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 55 – Golden expressions
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 54 – Pre-emption right vs Right of first refusal
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 53 – What do we mean by “agent” of a company?
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 52 – Voting at a meeting
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 51 – Contracts vs Deeds
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 50 – Executive and Non-Executive Directors
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 49 – Transfer of shares vs transmission of shares
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 48 – They, them, their for singular nouns
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 47 – Jointly and severally
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 46 – Invoice words
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 45 – Quotation
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 44 – Gazumping and Gazundering
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 43 – English words that the English do not understand
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 42 – Easement vs Profit à prendre
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 41 -er, -or and -ee names
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 40 – The Objects Clause
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 39 – When is Latin hot, and when is it not?
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 38 – Default
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 37 – Company Agent
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 36 – Injunction (false freind)
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 35 – Mortgage
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 34 – Freehold, Leasehold and Commonhold estates
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 33 – Transferor, Transferee and Transmittee
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 32 – Tax evasion, tax mitigation and tax avoidance
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 31 – Numbers
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 30 – Ordinary resolutions vs special resolutions
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 29 – AGM vs EGM
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 28 – A going concern
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 27 – Collocations: Violate, breach, break, disobey and infringe
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 26 – Company meeting words
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 25 – Mortgagor vs Mortgagee
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 24 – Fixed charges vs Floating charges
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 23 – Doctrine
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 22 – Construe
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 21 – Sign vs Execute
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 20 – The closing statement
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 19 – Writing Business Emails
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 18 – Limited companies
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 17 – Annual Accounts
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 16 – Meetings
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 15 – Attorney-at-law vs Attorney-in-fact
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 14 – Here and there compounds
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 13 – Subject Matter
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 12 – The clear days rule
Legal English – Peter’s Pills – Lesson 11 – Shareholder, Member or Holder of shares?
Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 10 – Competition Law
Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 9 – Lasting Power of Attorney
Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 8 – Guardianship
Legal English: Peter’s Pills – Lesson 7 – Damage vs Damages
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