Seeing clearly: Frame Semantic, Psycholinguistic, and Cross ...

CHAPTER 2. A FRAME SEMANTIC ANALYSIS 96
Frame see experience
type event
Uses service as [svc]
2
3
roles:
Seer =
6
6Seen
=
4
svc.Undergoer
7
svc.Service 7
5
Role = svc.Role
val:
82
><
6
4
>:
3 2
role Seer7
5,
gf ext
6
4
role Service
gf obj
39
>=
7
5
>;
(52) a. Brown: Friend is o to a great start with a 4-0 record but isn't likely to see
action here this week.
b. BNC: He had seen service in the Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion. . .
c. BNC: The FR.4 was too late to see service in World War Two. . .
d. BNC: In addition, there is a single HST Mk 3 saloon, which. . . has seen use by
both the Queen and the Prime Minister.
e. BNC: Charlotte, who has seen more than 20 prime ministers come and go in
Britain since she was born in 1877, received her 15th telegram from the Queen.
f. The company has seen pro ts fall even while revenues rose.
seer undergoes seen and is a ected by it.
Some of these examples are based on a sort of collocation with the small set of
nouns shown in the service as frame (service, combat, duty, use, action, and possibly
others), e.g. Ex. (52-a), Ex. (52-b). In this pattern, seer need not be a person, but still
\undergoes" the experience and is a ected by it (Ex. (52-c), Ex. (52-d)); in this respect it
is distinct from setting, inwhich seer is a place or time which is not a ected per se by
the events. There is also a more open pattern with events generally, as in Ex. (52-e) and
Ex. (52-f), which verges on process, except that the seer is a ected by the event, not
merely a passive witness. Another construction closely related to experience is Have seen
better/worse times/days/years/etc., which has a restricted type of NP in the direct object