A desired outcome presented as contingent on some event, situation, entity, or resource. The Purpose may be specific (e.g., an outcome that somebody tries to achieve by performing an action) or generic (e.g., an entity that was designed for or incidentally provides some affordance).
Central usages of Purpose explain the motivation behind (hence subtype of Explanation) an action; the action serves as a means for achieving or facilitating the Purpose. Yet it is possible to complete the action without realizing the purpose.
Prototypical markers include for and infinitive marker to:
Something directly manipulated/affected can stand in metonymically for the desired event:
I went to the store for eggs. [understood: ‘to acquire/buy eggs’] 004
surgery for a leg injury [understood: ‘to treat a leg injury’] 005
Less central usages present a potentially desirable outcome that could be brought about thanks to the availability of an entity, such as a tool, facility, or expendable resource:1
However, this category excludes infinitival complements of modal and aspectual predicates that lack a direct object:
The following tests help to clarify the boundaries of Purpose:
Bring the product to the store (in order) for`i us to service it. 033
Bring the product to the store (in order) for`i the part to be replaced. 034
Be careful, however, with inserting an inferred verb, as sometimes it is better captured by another label:
I babysat for (the purpose of helping) my aunt and uncle (= as a favor) (Beneficiary) 041
I made a cake for (the purpose of celebrating) your birthday (= on the occasion of your birthday) (Circumstance) 042
This is a good gym to lift weights at.
⇒ This is a good gym for (lifting) weights.
⇒ This gym is good for (lifting) weights. 043
A special qualification to the above tests applies to commercial scenes (buying, paying, hiring, costing, etc.): for explicitly commercial scenes,2 if the Purpose tests pass, the appropriate label is Theme↝Purpose. This expresses that the Purpose is not merely a desired outcome, but is actually promised and paid for in a transaction:
It costs $10 to see the movie. (Theme↝Purpose) 050
I hired John to fix the problem. (Theme↝Purpose) 051
See additional examples under Theme.
Expressions of sufficiency/excess with an infinitival that passes the above tests for Purpose are labeled ComparisonRef↝Purpose.
Sufficiency/excess usages failing the tests are ComparisonRef↝Goal, as this is similar to how an infinitival can express a result—cf. Goal#011:
a forest canopy too dense to admit sunlight (ComparisonRef↝Goal) 053
There is additional discussion under ComparisonRef.
Purpose applies to for when it marks a ritualized activity such as a meal or holiday/commemoration for which the main event describes a preparation stage:
Purpose:
However, if the activity marked by for is interpreted as containing the main event, then we use Circumstance:
If in doubt, Circumstance is broader: e.g., We went there for dinner if went is ambiguous between journeying and attending.
In FrameNet as of v1.7, these sorts of purposes are labeled as Inherent_purpose. See, e.g., the example “MONEY [to support yourself and your family]” in the Money frame. ↩
A more general predicate such as give, need, or request is not considered to evoke a commercial scene, even if it involves money exchanged for a service. ↩
The positive or negative evaluation is being delimited to a particular purpose: #043 is not claiming the gym is good in general, just with respect to lifting weights. ↩
| description | A desired outcome presented as contingent on some event, situation, entity, or resource. The Purpose may be specific (e.g., an outcome that somebody tries to achieve by performing an action) or generic (e.g., an entity that was designed for or incidentally provides some affordance). |
|---|---|
| animacy | unspecified |
| parent | Explanation |
| deprecated | False |
| deprecation_message | None |