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People: countable or uncountable?



 
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People: countable or uncountable? #1 (permalink) Sun May 28, 2006 20:14 pm   People: countable or uncountable?
 

"People" ic ountable or uncountable?
Can someboy explain the use of the word, please?
Thank you!
Curleyes
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People.countable or uncountable? #2 (permalink) Sun May 28, 2006 21:22 pm   People.countable or uncountable?
 

The word "people" is countable AND plural.
"There are 18 people visiting english-test.net at the moment."

If there is only one, then you should say "person".
"Curleyes is the person who asked this question."

Amy
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People.countable or uncountable? #3 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 5:17 am   People.countable or uncountable?
 

Dear Amy

When do we say A PEOPLE ?

Tom
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People.countable or uncountable? #4 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 6:05 am   People.countable or uncountable?
 

Good point, Tom.

Why don't you have a go at the explanation? Very Happy

Amy
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People.countable or uncountable? #5 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 7:51 am   People.countable or uncountable?
 

We cannot say "a people". It's a great mistake. Just in addition to Amy's excellent explanation, I want to detalize that people is a collective noun (singular in form but plural in meaning). It may be also called as a noun of multitude. NB: When the subject of the sentence is a noun of multitude the verb used as predicate is in the plural: The weather was warm and the people were sitting at their doors.

Also make a note that if we're not implying a number of men or women (people) but nations, we must use "peoples".
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People #6 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 8:05 am   People
 

Hi Pamela,

You said:

Quote:
We cannot say "a people". It's a great mistake.


Don't forget that people has another use apart from being a substitute for that awful word persons and that's when a people is used to mean the members of a race or nation. In that use it can also take an 's' to denote plural as in: the peoples of the world

Alan
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People.countable or uncountable? #7 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 8:10 am   People.countable or uncountable?
 

I see,Alan.You mean that if we imply a single nation we can use "a people"?Frankly speakig,it sounds new for me Embarassed
Pamela
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A people = a nation #8 (permalink) Mon May 29, 2006 10:17 am   A people = a nation
 

Hi Pamela

Yes, Alan's explanation is absolutely correct. My answer only gave the typical (most usual) usage for the word "people" and Tom's question pointed out that I had left out another, less frequent usage.

Amy
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People #9 (permalink) Wed Nov 12, 2008 18:23 pm   People
 

What about ...
    There were 20 persons
    There were 20 people

Why did you say that "persons" is an awful word?


Alan wrote:
Hi Pamela,

You said:

Quote:
We cannot say "a people"It's a great mistake


Don't forget that people has another use apart from being a substitute for that awful word persons and that's when a people is used to mean the members of a race or nation. In that use it can also take an 's' to denote plura as in: the peoples of the wordl

Alan
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People: countable or uncountable? #10 (permalink) Thu Nov 13, 2008 18:40 pm   People: countable or uncountable?
 

In everyday converstaion, we say "people." "Persons" sounds like a police report.

There were 20 people.
Barb_D
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confused: 20 people or 20 peoples #11 (permalink) Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:36 am   confused: 20 people or 20 peoples
 

I am really confused in using either 20 people or 20 peoples
Eris
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People: countable or uncountable? #12 (permalink) Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:40 am   People: countable or uncountable?
 

Hello Eris.
Use "20 people." It's already plural.
Barb_D
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Which is correct? "people is" or " people are". #13 (permalink) Mon Nov 24, 2008 0:49 am   Which is correct? "people is" or " people are".
 

Hello all,

Please tell me whether I shoud say "people is" or " people are".

Many thanks.

Love.
Si2007
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People: countable or uncountable? #14 (permalink) Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:20 am   People: countable or uncountable?
 

The word "People" is plural so it needs the plural form of the verb.
People are...
Barb_D
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