{"id":8985,"date":"2021-02-15T12:40:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xislblogs.xtreamlab.net\/slwoods\/?p=8985"},"modified":"2021-02-15T14:02:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T14:02:34","slug":"premises-premises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/?p=8985","title":{"rendered":"Premises, premises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When related to property, the noun premises<\/em> is defined<\/a> by Collins Dictionary as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a piece of land together with its buildings, esp considered as a place of business.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When related to property, premises<\/i> has since time immemorial (or even longer. Ed.<\/i>) been a plural<\/i> noun.<\/p>\n

However, it is a source of constant surprise how many people these days regard premises as a singular<\/em> noun, as shown by this recent example, courtesy of Manchester City Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A singular example<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, it should be remembered that premise<\/em> does exist as a singular<\/em> noun, in which instance it takes the following definition:<\/p>\n

\n

something that is supposed to be true and is used as a basis for developing an idea.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Local authorities are not the only people to get confused about premises and premise as regards use of the plural and singular.<\/p>\n

Take this example<\/a> on Twitter courtesy of the constabulary in Shrewsbury.<\/p>\n

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A singular licence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s right. Why have a premises licence when a premise licence will do just as well? I’m sure Mr Plod meant the former, but having a licence for a premise raises many new questions indeed.<\/p>\n

Professor Paul Brains of Washington State University has included the confusing of premises and premise in his book, Common Errors in English Usage<\/em>. Read his simple, eloquent distinction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Premises are also quite particular about where any action takes place too. Anything that happens always, always takes place on<\/i><\/strong> them, not in<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

The introduction of a blanket ban on smoking indoors gave rise to a wave of illiteracy, as exemplified by this typical example.<\/p>\n

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It does feel as though those of use who are held to higher standards of language use and\/or were taught proper English<\/i> (Ahem! Ed.<\/i>) are fighting a losing battle. Will premises become increasingly singular? Will actions take place in them ( or it? Ed.<\/i>) in future?<\/p>\n

For the answers to such questions, one must wait and see.<\/p>\n

Only time can tell as language always has been dynamic, i.e. a moving target: and what is regarded as proper usage will always be subject to change, just like language itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When related to property, the noun premises is defined by Collins Dictionary as: a piece of land together with its buildings, esp considered as a place of business. When related to property, premises has since time immemorial (or even longer. Ed.) been a plural noun. However, it is a source of constant surprise how many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,32,15,34],"tags":[16,22,35],"class_list":["post-8985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-translation-and-language-related-matters","category-media","category-politics","category-social-media","tag-english-usage","tag-language","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8985"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9008,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985\/revisions\/9008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slwoods.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}