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

CHAPTER 3. OTHER COGNITIVE APPROACHES 123
The metaphorical extension is to the categorization frame, which can be expressed with
the pattern \see X in Y". The X in Y pattern is based in turn on the Container metaphor,
according to which objects are containers and their qualities are their contents; thus, if Y
has the quality X,thenXis in Y. Since part A of the ICM states that you see things as
they are, if you see Y and see X in Y, then X is in Y. Conversely, according to the ICM,
if you see Y and don't seeXinit,thenXisnot in Y. Then by the Container metaphor,
Ydoesnothave the quality X.Hence,ifyou see no harm in something, there is no harm
in it, and you can conclude that it is not harmful, and likewise for the other sentences in
Ex. (11).
\Would rather see him hanged" and Related Patterns
Many examples of these sorts of sentences are found in corpora such as the BNC;
a few are shown in Ex. (12).
(12) a. BNC: . . . I'm warning you, I'll see you dead rst, before you take that girl.
b. BNC: I won't let him carry out his plan, whatever it is. I'll die, or I'll see him
dead rst!
c. BNC: You can tell that old bag I'll see her stu ed before I move an inch in her
direction.
d. BNC: I may be old-fashioned, but I'd rather see them married than indulging
in a sordid little a air.
These can be analyzed as uni cations of several constructions. In broad outline, the ele-
ments are as follows:
(I) Preference, expressed in any ofseveral ways:
(13) a. will/would rather A than B
b. will/would A before will/would B
c. will/would A rst
d. NP1 before NP2
A and B are XPs expressing states or actions, either VPbrst, VPs with will/would
or NPs expressing states. Pattern (13-d) allows only the last of these, as in Ex. (14-d).