stage (n.)

In SEMANTIC theory, a temporal part of an individual. The individual is seen as existing over a limited span of time, not typically including its entire lifetime. Stage-level predicates represent typically short-lived properties or actions, and produce EXISTENTIAL readings when they combine with BARE PLURAL NOUN PHRASES. For example, the sentence Snow-flakes are melting on the ground contains a stage-level predicate; it contrasts with such sentences as Snow-flakes are cold (an INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL predicate).