Is it appropriate to use 一人 as a noun in the subject position?


What is more appropriate: using the normal counting rules or using the
`numeral+counter` directly as the subject?

一人の人が来ました/人が一人来ました/人一人が来ました

Or

一人が来ました/7人が来ました etc?

Are they both ok? Is there a nuance? Is the first pattern redundant since
`numeral+人` already indicates a person?




Short answer is, it can but idiomaticity depends.

一人の人が来ました is perhaps just as unnatural as _One person came_.

To mean 'someone came' or 'there is a person coming', it would be 人が来ました or
人が一人来ました.

* * *

  * ある人が来ました could be used. It sounds like the person is kind of important in the context.

  * 一人が来ました could be used if the context clarifies _one what_ (e.g., in answering 子供が来ませんでしたか), but even then 一人来ました would be more natural.

  * 人一人が is used to emphasize that there exists a person. So it would not fit in a sentence like 来ました. 人一人が死んでいるですよ！ is possible (to talk about how serious an incident is).

