Frame Report

A Reader visually examines a Text, typically in a linear order, to understand its content. In place of the Text, a Topic may be mentioned.

She ca n't read . INI
They read the bible nightly .
I 've read about you !


This frame differs from the Reading_perception frame, which obligatorily focuses on the perceptual and cognitive interpretive aspects of reading; unlike Reading_activity, targets in Reading_perception require explicit mention of the Text being examined. While Reading_activity is broad enough to cover the same circumstances as Reading_perception, it also covers situations where reading is contrasted merely with another task or leisure activity, when reading is considered generically, and when the Topic unifying the reading activity replaces mention of a Text.

Additionally, this frame differs from Hearsay in that Reading_activity is focused on what the Reader is agentively doing, whereas in Hearsay, the focus is on what the Hearer knows and how they know it. As a result, most valences are unambiguous: full clause complements for the Message point to the Hearsay frame, while Text or lack of any complement indicates the Reading_activity frame. The only overlap is in the case of Topic, where the frames can be still distinguished by factivity of the Topic. In other words, read.v used in the Hearsay frame, just like hear.v in the Hearsay frame, when used with a Topic, indicates clearly that there is some specific fact related to the Topic that the reader or hearer now knows and understands. Thus the first and second of the following sentences belong to Hearsay, the last to Reading_activity:
Yes, I read about how you won teacher of the year .
I just read about the accident .

I was reading about dinosaurs all day.