<def-root>This frame consists of words that indicate the change of an <fen>Item</fen>'s position on a scale (the <fen>Attribute</fen>) from a starting point (<fen>Initial_value</fen>) to an end point (<fen>Final_value</fen>). The direction (<fen>Path</fen>) of the movement can be indicated as well as the magnitude of the change (<fen>Difference</fen>). The rate of change of the value (<fen>Speed</fen>) is optionally indicated. Another scale (<fen>Correlated_variable</fen>), which the values are correlated with, is indicated if it is not the default correlate (namely, absolute time).
<ex></ex>
The distinction between <fen>Attribute</fen>s and <fen>Item</fen>s is not always an easy one. The clear cases involve the expression of the
<fen>Attribute</fen> in an <ment>in</ment>-PP.
<ex><fex name="Item">Hawke's Bay winery</fex> <t>doubled</t> <fex name="Attribute">in size</fex> <fex name="Time">last year</fex>.</ex>
<ex>The amount you can deduct, then, depends on whether or not <fex name="Item">the stock</fex> has <t>increased</t> <fex name="Attribute">in value</fex> <fex name="Time">during the period you have owned it</fex>.</ex>
Other clear cases of <fen>Attribute</fen>s involve NP's like <ment>size, quality, number, value</ment> that denote abstract attributes rather than events or classes of things.
<ex></ex>
The analysis is more complicated when an event-denoting noun phrase occurs as the subject and the sentence has no <ment>in</ment>-PP. In the simplest cases, where the <fen>Attribute</fen> is the number of occurrences of the event, the <fen>Attribute</fen> is usually left implicit, as in exx. 1 and 2, the <fen>Attribute</fen> below.
<ex>(1)<fex name="Item">Accidents</fex> <t>increased</t> <fex name="Difference">20%</fex> <fex name="val2">to 345</fex>.</ex>
<ex>(1--second FE layer)Accidents <t>increased</t> 20% <fex name="Attribute">to 345</fex>.</ex>
<ex>(2) <fex name="Item">Attacks on civilians</fex> <t>decreased</t> <fex name="Time">over the last 4 months</fex>
<fex name="Attribute">DNI</fex>.</ex>
In cases like (1), we will tag the <fen>Attribute</fen> on the second layer below the <fen>Final_value</fen> label, as that FE makes
it clear that the <fen>Attribute</fen> is simply cardinality. In cases like (2), we tag it as DNI because in context the hearer has
to understand a particular <fen>Attribute</fen> rather than just some or any appropriate <fen>Attribute</fen> of the
<fen>Item</fen>. Note that the above pattern can be compared to cases involving tangible <fen>Item</fen>s, where the <fen>Attribute</fen> may similarly be missing when the incidence or frequency of the <fen>Item</fen> is specified.
<ex>(3) <fex name="Item">Woodland birds</fex> <t>increased</t><fex name="val2">to their highest level since 1990</fex> <fex name="Attribute">DNI</fex>.</ex>
A more complicated case involving event-denoting subjects is when the <fen>Attribute</fen> measured is not the incidence of the type of event specified but rather an <fen>Attribute</fen> of an event-participant. In (4), it is not the <ment>number of times</ment> that turbot was caught that has changed but the <ment>amount</ment> of fish caught.
<ex>(4) <fex name="Item">Turbot catches</fex> <t>increased</t> <fex name="val1">from around 100 tonnes in the 1960s</fex> <fex name="val2">to around 1,200 tonnes in the mid 1990s</fex>.</ex>
<ex>(4-second FE layer) Turbot catches <t>increased</t> <fex name="att">from around 100 tonnes in the 1960s</fex> <fex name="att">to around 1,200 tonnes in the mid 1990s</fex>.</ex>
(Note the 2nd layer annotation of the <fen>Attribute</fen> below the <fen>Initial_value</fen> and <fen>Final_value</fen> FEs, since they indicate that the <fen>Attribute</fen> is implicitly <ment>weight</ment>.)
Similarly, in (5), the report is (in context) about the total monetary value of the gifts, not about the number of donations made.
<ex>(5)<fex name="Item">Overall Giving by Church Members</fex> <t>increased</t> from 2000 to 2001</ex>
As can be seen from the above examples, we consider the event nouns in uses such as (4) and (5) to also specify <fen>Item</fen>s. Note that in cases like (4), we do not want to treat the subject NP "turbot catches" as an <fen>Attribute</fen> that includes information about the <fen>Item</fen>, since it would not make sense to restate (4) as follows:
<ex>*Turbot <t>increased</t> in catches.</ex>
Two more complications arise. First, certain nouns that do not, by their etymology, denote abstract attributes have a second sense in which they do denote an <fen>Attribute</fen>.
<ex>(6) The population of Smallville <t>increased</t> fourfold to 807.</ex>
Under one reading, (6a), the population could be understood as referring to "the people", in which case the <fen>Attribute</fen> <ment>cardinality</ment> is understood as unexpressed, as in (1), (2), and (3). The <fen>Attribute</fen> could be overtly specified:
<ex>(6a) <fex name="ite">The population of Smallville</fex> <t>increased</t> <fex name="Diff">fourfold</fex> <fex name="att">in size</fex> <fex name="val2">to 807</fex>.</ex>
Under another reading, (6b), population is an <fen>Attribute</fen> that habitats or locations possess. In this case, the whole NP "the population of Smallville" is treated as the <fen>Attribute</fen> and on the second layer "of Smallville" is tagged as <fen>Item</fen>.
<ex>(6b) <fex name="att">The population of Smallville</fex> <t>increased</t> <fex name="Diff">fourfold</fex> <fex name="val2">to 807</fex>.</ex>
<ex>(6b-second FE layer) The population <fex name="ite">of Smallville</fex> <t>increased</t> fourfold to 807.</ex>
Support for the possibility of this second reading comes from the fact that you can also state the facts as in (6c).
<ex>(6c) <fex name="ite">Smallville</fex> <t>increased</t> <fex name="Diff">fourfold</fex> <fex name="att">in population</fex> <fex name="val2">to 807</fex>.</ex>
The last complication is that <fen>Initial_value</fen> expressions can also function as the subject, which superficially look like expressions of <fen>Attribute</fen>.
<ex>(7) <fex name="val1">The 1999 price</fex> had <t>increased</t> <fex name="val2">to $3400</fex> <fex name="Time">by 2001</fex>.</ex>
<ex>(7--second layer) The 1999 <fex name="att">price</fex> had <t>increased</t> to $3400 by 2001.</ex>
There is no <fen>Attribute</fen> "1999 price" here (though the concept is plausible in certain special statistical contexts where prices are indexed to prices of a particular year). (7) simply reports that the value of the price-<fen>Attribute</fen> changed from whatever it was in 1999 to the new value of $3400 by 2001. For sentence (7), <fen>Attribute</fen> would only be indicated as "price" on the 2nd layer.
</def-root>
<def-root>The <fen>Attribute</fen> is a scalar property that the <fen>Item</fen> possesses.<ex><fex name="Item">Oil</fex> <t>rose</t> <fex name="Attribute">in price</fex> <fex name="Diff">by 2%</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The entity that has a position on the scale.
<ex>I fear <fex name="Item">this service</fex> will <t>diminish</t> in quality.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The distance by which an <fen>Item</fen> changes its position on the scale.<ex>Oil <t>rose</t> in price <fex name="Diff">by 2%</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>Any expression that gives information about points on the scale that the <fen>Item</fen> traverses between the starting and ending point of its movement along the scale.<ex>The price of oil <t>moved</t> <fex name="Path">up</fex> last month.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The position on the scale where the <fen>Item</fen> ends up.
<ex>Microsoft shares <t>fell</t> <fex name="val2">to 7 5/8</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The initial position on the scale from which the <fen>Item</fen> moves away.
<ex>Microsoft shares <t>fell</t> <fex name="val1">from 12 3/8</fex> to 7 5/8.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The rate of change of the Value.<ex>Prices are <t>rising</t> <fex name="Speed">by 2% a year</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The <fen>Correlated_variable</fen> is an ordered progression of positions or values (most often a sequence of spatial locations) that the (dependent) <fen>Attribute</fen> is measured against. The <fen>Correlated_variable</fen> is metaphorically mapped onto the progression of time, and in the absence of this FE, changes are simply measured against (forward-directional) time.
<ex>The amount of power <t>increases</t> <fex name="cor">with the frequency of the laser</fex>.</ex>
<ex><fex name="cor">As you travel along the Quan-duo road</fex>, the poverty level <t>soars</t> dramatically.</ex></def-root>
<def-root><fen>Manner</fen> of performing an action</def-root>
<def-root><fen>Degree</fen> to which event occurs</def-root>
<def-root>The <fen>Circumstances</fen> under which the change of position takes place.
<ex>The eggs will only <t>increase</t> <fex name="Circumstances">under pressure</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root><fen>Result</fen>. of an event</def-root>
<def-root>The <fen>Group</fen> in which an <fen>Item</fen> changes the value of a <fen>Attribute</fen> in a specified way.<ex>Colon cancer incidence <t>fell</t> by 50 % <fex name="Grp">among men over 30</fex>.</ex><ex>Net foreign debt has more than <t>tripled</t> <fex name="Grp">in Africa</fex> over this decade.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The <fen>Time</fen> is the time-frame in which the change of position occurs.</def-root>
<def-root>The length of time over which the change takes place.
<ex>The amount of troops in the war will no doubt <t>double</t> <fex name="Dur">over the next several years</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>A portion of the scale, typically identified by its end points, along which the values of the <fen>Attribute</fen> fluctuate.
<ex>The patient's temperature <t>fluctuated</t> <fex name="Value_range">between 28.5 and 29.5</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The value, location, or state-of-affairs that corresponds to the <fen>Initial_value</fen> of the <fen>Attribute</fen>.
<ex><fex name="cor1">From Monterrey</fex> to southern Oregon, tree height <t>increases</t> steadily in this species to a stunning 50 meters.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The value, location, or state-of-affairs that corresponds to the <fen>Final_value</fen> of the <fen>Attribute</fen>.
<ex>From Monterrey <fex name="cor2">to southern Oregon</fex>, tree height <t>increases</t> steadily in this species to a stunning 50 meters.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>A location where Attribute is measured</def-root>
<def-root>A description that presents the <fen>Item</fen>'s state before the change in the <fen>Attribute</fen>'s value as an independent predication.
<ex>Diesels have <t>increased</t> <fex name="inis">from having a 20% market share in 1995</fex> to just over 30% in 2004.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>A description that presents the <fen>Item</fen>'s state after the change in the <fen>Attribute</fen>'s value as an independent predication.
<ex>It was never bad (1 or 2 seizures a year), but this past decade, it has <t>increased</t>
<fex name="finis">to having them 1 day a month</fex> and on that 1 day I have 6 or 7 seizures.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The length of time from when the event denoted by the target began to be repeated to when it stopped.</def-root>
<def-root>Expressions marked with this extra-thematic FE modify a non-iterative use of the target, and indicate that it is conceived as embedded within an iterated series of similar events or states.</def-root>
<def-root>An event that occurs or state of affairs that holds at a time that includes the time during which the quantity change takes place and of which it is taken to be a part.
<ex>Hong Kong : Buying by London institutions helped the Hang Seng index to climb 39.95 points to 2,786.65 <fex name="con">in moderate trade</fex>.</ex></def-root>
<def-root>The situation or state-of-affairs that results in the change in quantity described in this instance of the frame.
<ex>Her panic had <t>declined</t> <fex name="Explanation">because I spent two hours explaining what you did</fex> !</ex></def-root>
Event
Proliferating_in_number
Change_of_temperature
Remainder
Change_of_quantity_of_possession
Position_on_a_scale
FN: become greater along some dimension
FN: a move up on a scale
FN: decrease.
FN: a move down on a scale
FN: move up on some scale
FN: a move upwards on a scale
FN: a downward move along some scale
FN: move downward along some scale
FN: increase rapidly above the usual level on some scale
FN: move lower on a scale
FN: move down rapidly on a scale
COD: become larger or greater over a period of time; increase.
FN: change one's position on a scale
FN: become smaller, fewer, or less
FN: a lessening along some dimension; usually implies negative evaluation
COD: decline rapidly in amount or value
FN: a rapid decline in amount or value
FN: increase very rapidly and suddenly
FN: change gradually to a lower level
FN: move up on a scale
FN: move up on a scale
COD: rise or increase suddenly
COD: become lower, weaker, or less
COD: diminish gradually
COD: become double
COD: become three times as much or as many
COD: rise and fall irregularly in number or amount
COD: irregular rises and falls in number or amount
COD: a sharp increase, especially in price
COD: increase suddenly in number or extent.
FN: a rapid (possibly alarming) increase in number or extent.
COD: increase or develop rapidly.
FN: an increase in some dimension over time.
FN: become greater in (intensity, amount, or volume)
COD: (of a price or amount) increase very rapidly.
FN: to arrive at a particular value
FN: to drop in value
FN: to move slighlty up or down in value
COD: increase in scale, value, or power.
FN: to rapidly move from one value to another
COD: increase rapidly.
COD: a slight change in position, direction, or tendency.
FN: change slightly in some way.
COD: an increase (in wealth or resources).
FN: to an increasing extent or frequency.
FN: grow to be larger or have more of
FN: the action of increasing in scale
FN: decrease.
FN: a decrease.
FN: a decrease from a baseline state
FN: An increase from a baseline state
FN: Increase in rate
FN: to decrease
FN: an increase
FN: to decrease
FN: having decreased (by some amount).
NB: this preposition often modifies a quantity, specifiying that it is the value after a change, and may occur with an initial value marked by from.