Grammar..Premises are or premises is?
By RUBESH
@Manasha (2863)
Pondicherry, India
December 13, 2012 10:47pm CST
We gave an agreement form to our owner to check any correction. He returned it with the following correction
What we gave
Any disputes arising out of this agreement shall have jurisdiction in the designated court where the leased premises are situated.
He corrected it as follows:
Any disputes arising out of this agreement shall have jurisdiction in the designated
court where the leased premises is situated.
In his sentence he corrected are to is. I want to know whether the word premises is singular or plural ?
3 responses
@owlwings (43907)
• Cambridge, England
14 Dec 12
'Premises' is plural. The version you submitted was correct.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/premises
Although the definition is given as "a piece of land together with its buildings, esp considered as a place of business.", the noun 'premises' is a plural noun, therefore "... where the leased premises are situated." is correct.
1 person likes this
@renkinjutsushi (716)
• United States
14 Dec 12
No, that would not be correct. The noun is always plural when referring to property, so the sentence should be written "premises are situated" as it was in the version you submitted.
@owlwings (43907)
• Cambridge, England
14 Dec 12
A 'premise' is something quite different (and it is pronounced differently). See the dictionary entry I gave above.
@StLouisMetroTutoring (678)
• St. Peters, Missouri
14 Dec 12
Good job, Manasha! You're correct. As others have said, premises is always considered a plural word. There are many that will use it sometimes as singular and sometimes as plural depending on the number of locations that are being referenced. However, my research all came back supporting premises as a plural noun, always.
1 person likes this
@StLouisMetroTutoring (678)
• St. Peters, Missouri
14 Dec 12
Yes and no. There is a word "premise". It though has nothing to do with buildings or land. This word means a logical argument or an assumed fact. For example, "The premise of his argument was that the earth is round." OR 'The sequel suffers from a lame premise."
I couldn't find anything that would indicate that there is such a word as "premise" as related to "premises." I did find the word history though - and it's kind of interesting. According to the Free Dictionary, "premises" came from the Latin word "praemissa" which is a form of the Latin verb "praemittere" Medieval Latin use of the word "praemissa" was almost always plural. Then it meant things that come before. But in Middle English, an additional meaning was added. It came to be used in legal documents referring to that property, collectively. And it was always in the plural! Both in Middle English and Modern English. It continued to always be plural when the definition was extended to mean a house or building with its grounds.
So you were right! If someone wants to insist on premises being singular, I think they have a lot of history to fight.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
14 Dec 12
Premises is treated as plural though it may refer to a singular building so the use of 'are' is correct. However, whilst technically correct the sentence displays another fault.
"Any disputes arising out of this agreement shall have jurisdiction in the designated court where the leased premises are situated."
The construction is at fault, since it implies that it is the agreement that has jurisdiction not the court.
Better would be.,
"Any disputes arising from this agreement shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the designated court for the location in which the leased premises are situated."
all the best, urban
@StLouisMetroTutoring (678)
• St. Peters, Missouri
14 Dec 12
Good catch, Urban. I knew there was something about the sentence that didn't sound right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Your sentence is much clearer.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
15 Dec 12
I must admit it was a struggle to rectify it, much harder than it would have been to have created it from the start.
all the best, urban
