premise

«premise» in Mova's school dictionary: an idea or fact that an argument or plan is based on — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a premise, premises; premises — a building)

meaning for a pupil

1) A premise is an idea or fact that an argument or plan is based on. tree →

2) The premise of a story or film is its basic idea. tree →

3) Premises (plural) means a building and the land around it, such as a shop or school. tree →

sense in the lessons

In logic and thinking lessons, a premise leads to a conclusion; in English lessons, a story's premise is its main idea; in everyday safety signs «on the premises» means inside the building. Phrases: on the premises, the premise of the story, a false premise.

examples

• The premise of the story is a boy who can fly. tree →
• No dogs are allowed on the premises. tree →
• If the premise is wrong, the conclusion may be wrong too. tree →
• The shop moved to new premises. tree →
• «All cats have tails» is a premise in the argument. tree →
• Smoking is not allowed on school premises. tree →

note

«Premises» meaning a building is always plural (the premises). Also spelt «premiss» in old logic books. Do not confuse with «promise».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «premise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.