語言的本質是描述生活和表達情感，每個人的生活經歷不盡相同，那麼同一個詞對於不同的人來說，可能意味著略微不同的色彩或者意境。
上學的時候，對於同義詞，老師一般大致用中文解釋用於不同的語境，我想大家都遇到過同樣的遭遇。舉個例子，高中的時候遇到三個詞：people、person、human，老師一般這麼解釋：
敲黑板，大家注意了。People是複數名詞，不能說a people，也不能說peoples，表示一群人或一類人。Person是可數名詞，是指單個人。Human也是可數名詞，表示人類。
這樣的解釋，只單單解釋了字面意思，詞語適用的語境、詞語是什麼色彩、專用用法統統沒講。大家坐在下面大眼對小眼，估計還是糊裡糊塗的。尤其在課本中human是以human being詞組形式出現的，全班都以為human只能這麼用。
那麼用英英詞典能帶來什麼好處呢？下面以柯林斯高階英英詞典對這幾個詞的解釋為例講講好在哪裡。
people
1. Peopleare men, women, and children. People is normally used as the plural of person, instead of 『persons』.
表示person的複數形式
2. The peopleis sometimes used to refer to ordinary men and women, in contrast to the government or the upper classes.
people前面加the → 「the people」用來表示普通人，區別於政府和權貴階層
3. A peopleis all the men, women, and children of a particular country or race.
people單獨使用還表示特定國家或者種族的所有人，比如Chinese people，rural people。
4. [VB: usu passive] If a place or country is peopled bya particular group of people, that group of people live there.
動詞，常用作被動（passive）peopled，表示sb.居住於some place，釋義句也就是用法例句：some place be peopled bysb.
5. [V] If something such as a story or a time in history is peopled withpeople of a particular kind, those people occur or exist in it. (LITERARY)
動詞，圓括號中註解通常為文學上的表達，意思是某類人出現在或存在於歷史上某個故事/某個時代，釋義即為用法：be peopled with。詞典給出了例句：
Grass's novels are peopled with outlandish characters。→Grass的小說總出現古怪的人物。
person
柯林斯英英詞典首先給出作為合成詞的作用：
1. -personis added to numbers to form adjectives which indicate how many people are involved in something or can use something. People is not used in this way.
Person用連接符與數字連接，用來表示「幾人」。
2. -personis added to nouns to form nouns which refer to someone who does a particular job or is in a particular group. -person is used by people who do not want to use a term which indicates whether someone is a man or a woman. –people can also be used in this way.
為了避免點名某人的性別，用person取代合成詞中的man或者woman，比如不想提及主席的性別，可稱為chairperson，同樣的還有salesperson，如果要表示複數，可用salespeople。
柯林斯詞典給出的詞義解釋：
首先每個解釋之前都寫了：
「The usual word for 『more than one person』 is people. The form personsis used as the plural in formal or legal language」。
People是person的通用複數形式；persons是正式和法律語言中的複數形式。
這下對people和persons的用法有了清楚的了解。原來一個是非正式的，一個是正式的、用於法律語言的。
以下為詞典對person的解釋：
1. A personis a man, woman, or child.
不解釋
2. Personsis used as the plural of person in formal, legal, and technical writing.
Persons在正式、法律、技術寫作中用作person的複數。
3. If you talk about someone as a person, you are considering them from the point of view of their real nature.
固定用法：as a person → 作為人。
例句：Robin didn't feel good about herself as a person。 → 羅賓對自己的感覺並不好。
4. If someone says, for example, 『I'm an outdoor person』or 『I'm not a coffee person』, they are saying whether or not they like that particular activity or thing. (mainly SPOKEN)
固定用法：I’m (not) a … person. → 我是…的人。比如I'm not a coffee person→我不喝咖啡。
5. If you do something in person, you do it yourself rather than letting someone else do it for you.
do sth. in person表示親自做某事。
例句：She went to New York to receive the award in person. → 她親自去紐約領獎。
6. If you meet, hear, or see someone in person, you are in the same place as them, rather than, for example, speaking to them on the telephone, writing to them, or seeing them on television.
See someone in person表示親眼看到某人。
例句：She wanted to hear him sing in person. → 她想親耳聽他唱歌。
7. Your personis your body. (FORMAL)
Person指個人身體。（正式用語）
例句：The suspect had refused to give any details of his identity and had carried no documents on his person. → 嫌犯拒絕透露他的身份，身上未帶任何文件。
8. You can use in the person ofwhen mentioning the name of someone you have just referred to in a more general or indirect way. (WRITTEN)
in the person of用在書面語中，是引出描述對象的一種間接詞組搭配。
例句：We had a knowledgeable guide in the person of George Adams. → 我們有一位見識廣博的導遊喬治·亞當斯。
9. In grammar, we use the term first personwhen referring to `I' and `we', second person when referring to `you', and third person when referring to `he', `she', `it', `they', and all other noun groups. Person is also used like this when referring to the verb forms that go with these pronouns and noun groups.
在語法中person用來表示第幾人稱，比如第一人稱叫「first person」，第二人稱叫「second person」，第三人稱叫「third person」。
human
1. [adj.] Humanmeans relating to or concerning people.
Human是形容詞：人的。
2. [n] You can refer to people as humans, especially when you are comparing them with animals or machines.
把人與動物或機器做比較的時候，使用humans稱呼人類。
3. [adj.] Humanfeelings, weaknesses, or errors are ones that are typical of humans rather than machines.
Human特指人類的、人性的（相比機器而言），比如human feelings, weaknesses, or errors特指人類情感、人性弱點和人因錯誤。尤其human error這個詞，在工程管理常見到。所以知識面廣對於英語的學習也是一個幫助。
匯總
通讀下來，基本理解了people、person、human的區別了：
people表示一群人、一類人；person表示個人，尤其用在正式文法、法律文本、技術寫法中；human表示人類（的）、人性（的）（相對於機器而言）。
這個總結好像跟本文開頭提到的英語老師的說法差不多，但是通過讀詞典已清晰明白個中用法。
話說回來也不能怪當年老師沒在課堂上帶著大家讀詞典，因為閱讀詞典需要有一定的語言基礎。既然現在已經具備了語言基礎，就不能再死記硬背了。
總結
總結一下英英詞典的好處：
1. 閱讀英文釋義句，增加自己的英語語感。詞典是最嚴謹最官方的工具書，幾乎沒有廢話，比英文課本還要正式，讀詞典等於讀經典。
2. 閱讀英文解釋有助於學習者在英文環境中理解英文。英漢詞典解釋中文與英文互相切換，及其容易讓學習者大腦一會是漢語思維，一會是英文思維，容易混亂。
3. 英文釋義通過句子的形式表達出來，閱讀句子，直接明白這個詞的意思、用法、同義詞，連例句都省去了。
比如people的第4個解釋，如果要用中文表達要用4句：意思：（某類人）居住於（某國家、某地方）用法：be peopled by例句：balabala…同義詞：live在看看英文釋義，一句話搞定：If a place or country is peopled bya particular group of people, that group of people live there.
4. 查英英詞典還可增加詞彙量。(⊙o⊙)
本文只是舉一個例子，說明英英詞典是辨析近義詞的首選。希望能幫到英語學習者。
有心的人可以查一組近義詞體驗一下英英詞典，比如clothes、garment、finery，都表示衣服、服裝，有什麼區別呢？