When do I use "persons" instead of "person's"? When do I add the apostrophe?

Question

Update:

Thanks man 

Answer 1

Favourite answer

1 person 

2 or more persons

person's = something belonging to one person

persons' = something belonging to plural persons

Answer 2

The apostrophe is necessary when referring to something that belongs to a person, like a book. For example, I saw the person's book fall, picked it up, and returned it to her/him. If there are many, the same rule applies. For example, the persons' applause showed their approval.

Answer 3

Oh no! You’ll have the apostrophe police out now!

Answer 4

possessive is when you use person's, or perhaps persons' (depends on if you mean one or many).  Most people do use "people" as the plural version of "person", so it is not common to hear "persons" as the plural, but it is still done.

The person's luggage was on the cart.  The persons were in the cart (sounds very awkward to me, so I would say "the people were in the cart")  However, some might want to say "individual persons might consider that a good choice" and I don't find that awkward.  That is, it is sometimes ok or even better to use the plural "persons" rather than the plural "people". 

But to answer the question clearly, the apostrophe is used for a possessive form only.  It is not used when the s is used to indicate plural.

Answer 5

“Persons” is an antiquated word now only used in legalese. 

One person, two people. 

The apostrophe is used for the possessive form. “The bag is this person’s property.” 

Here’s a link about “people vs. persons”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/peop...

Answer 6

persons= more than one person

person's = belonging to one person

Answer 7

i think they sound good either way

Answer 8

Leave off the apostrophe when you're referring to more than one person. Use the apostrophe when referring to the possession of a person and the word "person's" modifies the object word. Dang, they taught me this in the 3rd grade, as we learned to diagram sentences to map out all the parts of speech.