Jan 2011 25
The sign on the bus says ‘this seat reserved for disabled persons”. Why does it not say “people” instead?2
Posted In disabled people
Question by FREDERICKRABBIT: The sign on the bus says ‘this seat reserved for disabled persons”. Why does it not say “people” instead?
What is the language rules that you use Persons as a plural instead of people.
Best answer:
Answer by Zehra M
a formal form of speech is used… i dont know the particular rule for it but whenever writing a warning or any manual least articles (a, an or the).
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People is a group, whereas person is an individual. If there is only one seat, then it is only appropriate for one person to sit there at any given moment, but because the one person could be anyone meeting the criterion ‘disabled’, it must be pluralised: hence ‘persons’.
If it said that the seat was reserved for disabled people, it would be implying that if there were five disabled persons on the bus, all five of them may sit on that seat at the same time, since, collectively, they could accurately be described as ‘a disabled people’.
The critical factor is that /people/ is a mass noun, and /person/ is a count noun, and both, contrary to popular belief, are singular.
If there is only seat to which this sign relates, it is better to say ‘This seat (is) reserved for a disabled person’.
By using the plural ‘people’ (or even ‘persons’, which I think is not wrong), the writer probably meant that other than one who is disabled, none else could occupy it.
If the sign is for a bench or seat that can accommodate more than one person, there shouldn’t be an objection to the use of ‘persons’ or ‘people’, I think.
To me, ‘persons’ and ‘people’ here are interchangeable.