people was vs people were

The correct phrase is "people were." In English, the verb "to be" should be conjugated as "were" when referring to plural subjects like "people." Using "people was" is incorrect and should be avoided.

Last updated: March 19, 2024 • 3358 views

This phrase is incorrect in English.

"people was"

The correct form is "people were" because "people" is a plural subject, and the verb "to be" should be conjugated as "were" for plural subjects.

Show examples from the web [+]

Each one of these people was somebody's somebody.
I was at this meal, and it came up that one of the people was a smoker, and somebody else at the table started hectoring them about it.
Whatever killed these people was... fast and aggressive.
Unclaimed. Each one of these people was loved.
I thought the meaning of people was somewhere in here.
Well, I thought his attachment to people was a distraction slowing down his progress.
Every single one of those people was stabbed, strangled, stomped, or bludgeoned to death.
As for us, 300 million people was about a million times bigger than any other audience we'd ever had.
You said robbing people was wrong.
Nobody taught me that killing people was wrong.
The survey of 1,005 people was conducted by the Isopublic research institute and published in the SonntagsBlick newspaper.
And what you said to those people was really hurtful.
And so the world of dragons and people was divided.
Lots of people was asking me about you.
I thought helping people was part of your job description.
The only way to bribe these people was with gold.
Lot of people was angry with her.
We got to go see how other people was living.
Listen, what killed those people was a virus with an unusually low contagion ability.
What they did to these people was no joke.

Alternatives:

people were

This phrase is correct in English.

"people were"

Use "people were" when referring to a group of individuals, as "were" is the correct past tense form of the verb "to be" for plural subjects like "people."

Show examples from the web [+]

Thirty-seven people were shot and injured by plastic bullets.
These people were cocooned for later feeding.
Our people were happy to receive their stores.
Over 100 people were present at the party.
All but two people were present there.
A lot of people were killed in World War II.
A lot of people were killed in the war.
The following people were put to the test.
Hundreds of thousands of people were out of work.
Forty-two million people were displaced by natural disasters in 2010.
At least 50 people were wounded by police shots.
The military authorities say that 190 people were detained.
Amnesty claims that hundreds of people were killed in Côte-d'Ivoire, despite the UN presence.
At least 25 people were killed and 272 wounded.
Four people were executed in Japan in January.
In the vast majority of EID cases, people were detained during cordon and search operations locally called 'crackdown'.
During those weeks several people were interrogated and kept under police or house arrest.
In Europe, almost 650000 people were infected, many of them under 25 years of age.
More than half a million people were displaced from Sudan in 2006 alone.
These people were killed by murderers, by criminals.

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people was vs people were

"people was"

"people were"

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