by Jennie Ruby 
Thank you to all those who sent in grammar pet peeves! I'll talk about them here over the next few weeks.
First, Ann Ray brings us premise versus premises.
A premise is a basis for an argument:
I see his point, but I have to question his premise that municipalities should do all trash collection for free.
In the plural form, premises can mean multiple bases for an argument, or premises can mean a building and its grounds. This latter use comes from legal documents in which the location is identified in the "preliminary and explanatory" section of a deed or other real estate document (Webster's). It should always be used as plural, and a very strong usage tradition has this word always appearing in the phrase "on the premises." Weirdly, I usually hear this pronounced "premiss-iss," whereas the plural meaning bases for an argument I usually hear pronounced as "premis-eeze," although there is some crossover.
We can adjust your eyeglasses right here on the premises.
Here are Ann Ray's examples:
A local funeral home advertises that they do cremation on premise.
A huge telecom company writes about wiring the premise!
Jim Dages complains that young folks these days say on accident instead of by accident. The whole issue of which preposition goes with a particular word or phrase is utterly one of usage. Usage is basically a feel for or conventions for how people use words in phrases and sentences. I have also heard people in my kids' generation say "on accident." I don't know where it came from, and I failed to cure any of them of it.
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