I used not to be aware there was a problem here...thought myself comfortable with these words and their forms....oh, happy days.
Bingley and Boronia have summed up "people(s)" in a way that rings bells with me at least. "Person(s)" still bothers me. Gilbert's use of "young persons" rather than "young ladies" or even "young people" may be a fine distinction, but it is one that we recognise and that conveys quite exactly certain information regarding their age and probable lack of discretion. Jeeves would have used the same terminology for the same purpose - to convey a slightly warning note; to imply a measure of unpredictability.
On a different note, a phrase one hears commonly used in police statements is: "...committed by a person or persons unknown", which seems more correct than "...by one or more unknown people" (you can't have "one people" - at least not in this context), but would you say "...by two or more persons unknown" or "...by two or more unknown people", or is either usage equally good? Come to think of it, why don't the police simply say "...by an unknown number of people" and leave it at that?
My head hurts.
