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T : Thomas  H : Heidi 


 

H : Professor Chan! How are you? Something is troubling me, and that is regarding the singular or plural form of some nouns. For example, the other day I saw a sign while taking the elevator, saying “Maximum of 5 people at one time”. And then on my way home today I saw in the lift another notice saying “13 persons”. Can you tell me whether we should use “people” or “persons”?

 

T : Well, actually it’s not quite correct to use “people” like this, because the word people, origianlly from Latin and means the whole group of human beings in a city, district, or even in a country. In the same way, the word “person” was also a Latin word and referred to any individual human being. So, the use of “persons” should be used in your example, as we can count one, two, three, four … individuals.

 

H : I see, thank you Professor!


 

 

H : 陳教授,您好!關於英文名詞的單數和複數的運用, 我還有一些地方想不通。例如,前幾天我乘電梯時看到一張告示,上面寫著「Maximum of 5 people at one time」 (每程最多容納5 人)。後來,我今天回家,在電梯內又看到另一張指示,寫上「13 persons」究竟我們應該用「people」還是「persons」呢?

 

T : 嗯,實際上上述情況使用「people」並不恰當,因為「people」這個詞源自拉丁文,意指在一個城市、地區甚至一個國家生活的群體。同樣,「person」這個詞也是一個拉丁詞,解作一個人。所以,在第一個例子中應該使用「persons」,因為我們可以數算到多少人,即一、二、三、四 ⋯⋯個人

 

H : 我明白了,謝謝教授!