“Some people is…” Or “Some people are…”

“Some people is…” Or “Some people are…”

Which of these above given English expressions is correct?

Both are correct with reasons for different occasions of usages. Let’s consider the known grammatical rules that relate with “some” on this context together with etymological form of the word - “people”.

Rule 1

“Some” takes plural nouns and verbs.(Some + plural noun + plural verb)

Examples:

Some people are looking for you.Some students are lazy.Some private schools are just profit oriented centers

But, when the followed noun is uncountable, the noun remains in its basic form without any inflections and the verb also remains singular:

Some water is needed.Some oil has been bought.

Rule 2 (Exceptional Rule of “some”)

“Some” takes a singular noun when the indentity of the subject (the noun after ‘some’ ) is unknown or not meant to be disclosed:

Some person has taken your bag.Some politician we don’t want to mention has no certificate.

At this juncture, it has been established that “some” can take either singular or plural nouns.

On an etymological form of the word, “people.”

“People” is the plural of “person.” The word “person” itself has two plural forms: “persons” or “people.” In this sense, “person” refers to a man, woman or child while “people” or “persons” refers to men, women or children. So, we can have:

Some people are… (When identify is known or disclosed)

Or

Some person is … (When identity is unknown or not meant to be disclosed)

Moreso, why did I say “Some people is…” is also correct?

The word, “people” can still be used to mean “a society”. When it’s used in this context’

“People” is singular meaning a society“Peoples” is plural meaning societies.

Now with “some”, we can have:

“Some people is…” meaning some unknown society is…

Likewise, we can still say:

“Some peoples are…” meaning some societies are…

Can you now see that both expressions are correct? Your intention or message controls your grammatical formation or choice of rules.

Some person is…✓Some persons/people are…✓Some people is…✓Some peoples are…✓

Seeing singular verb after the word, “people” may look rear. But, being rare doesn’t weaken its correctness.

Let me support this grammatical stand with one of the educational quotes of a Nigerian nationalist and hardened free education preacher, Chief Obafemi Awolow:

“Any people that is starved with books, especially the right type of books, will suffer intellectual malnutrition, stagnation and atrophy.”

- Chief Obafemi Awolowo

You can see Bàbá selected the singular verb “is” for the word, “people” which implies “people” in the above quote means “society”, not men and women.

Since the day I stumbled on this quote, I began respecting the grammatical sense of Baba. This is one of the reasons he couldn’t joke with education. He himself had it, unlike today’s Nigerian politicians without legally reliable certificates. No paper backup and the stuff is not even there. They help them write speeches.

Only Allah Knows Best.

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