Roleset escalate.01 Verbnet Class: NONE "(cause to) become higher":

Roles:

Arg0:causer


Arg1:thing becoming higher

Examples:

person: ns tense: ns aspect: ns voice: ns form: infinitive


agentive (-)
Analysts said they expect McCaw to escalate the bidding again.
Arg0:	McCaw
REL:	escalate
Arg1:	the bidding
ArgM-TMP:	again

person: ns tense: past aspect: ns voice: active form: full


ergative (-)
...reminiscent of those during the 1987 crash -- that as stock prices plummeted and trading activity escalated, some phone calls to market makers in over-the-counter stocks went unanswered.
Arg1:	trading activity
REL:	escalated

I'm really hoping this doesn't fall into the quantifiable-motion class.