To be cryogenically and London

Question

14-year-old London schoolgirl wins bid to be cryogenically frozen so she can live again
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/14-year-old-london-schoolgirl-wins-bid-be-cryogenically-frozen-so-she-can-live-again-1592167
What is the grammatical function of "to be" here, how do we know that we need one and what does it modify or describe in the sentence? Is "London" an adjective modifying schoolgirl?
Thanks advance to all great people who are helping us to learn this beautiful language.

GPY · Accepted Answer

"to be cryogenically frozen" modifies "bid" (describes what kind of bid it is).

"London" is an attributive noun modifying "schoolgirl". Though it functions a bit like an adjective, it is not a true adjective.

Anonymous · Answer

is "to be" a verbal-infinitive?

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous Is "to be" a verbal-infinitive?

It's an infinitive. Yes. But it's part of a larger infinitive, to be frozen. (You don't have to say 'verbal'; all infinitives are verb forms.)

to freeze is the active infinitive.
to be frozen is the passive infinitive.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Jigneshbharati14-year-old London schoolgirl wins bid to be cryogenically frozen so she can live again

Isn't "to be cryogenically frozen" an infinitive (non-finite) clause of purpose ([in order] to be cryogenically frozen)?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIsn't "to be cryogenically frozen" an infinitive (non-finite) clause of purpose ([in order] to be cryogenically frozen)?

Excellent question, but I think not. It's a complement to "bid".

"bid" is a deverbal. To bid to do something doesn't sound to me exactly the same as to bid in order to do something. The former gives the content of the bid, what you're bidding on. The latter gives a reason why a bid was made. You can theoretically (albeit awkwardly) have both: I [bid / made a bid] to be frozen (in order) to please my mother. That would be an infinitive complement followed by an infinitive of purpose.

chance and opportunity work the same way. I hope that we will have an opportunity to meet again some day.

With these you can't say that the infinitive modifies the noun, either, by the way. The model for that is ... have some fish to fry. The bid is not going to be frozen; the opportunity is not being met. But the fish is being fried.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, CJ, for the excellent reply.

PS: Indeed, The BBI Combinatory Dictionary includes the noun "bid" into the grammatical collocation "noun followed by to + infinitive" which doesn't express purpose. The authors of that dictionary write: "We don't include [in their dictionary] nouns if they are followed by infinitives normally associated with the whole sentence rather than with the noun. Such infinitives express purpose; the phrase in order may be inserted between the noun and the infinitive with no change of meaning: they sold their house (in order) to cut down on expenses.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIndeed, The BBI Combinatory Dictionary includes the noun "bid" ...

Thanks for the additional information. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who analyzes the pattern that way.

CJ

To be cryogenically and London

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