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From BBC news,

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Mr Musk of breaching a court order to not share information which could impact the financial markets, without pre-approval.

Is the to here the equivalent of in order to?

Or does the entire infinitive phrase adds information to order , telling us what kind of order was breached.

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    Your second thought is on track. The infinitival is a complement, licensed by the NP "court order".
    – BillJ
    Apr 27 '19 at 15:02
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Mr Musk of breaching [a court order to not share information which could impact the financial markets, without pre-approval].

No: it's not an purpose adjunct, but a complement licensed by "court order".

Purpose adjuncts express cause, but there is no causal meaning here. The complement simply expands the meaning of "court order".

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  • It has nothing to do with syntax , readers have to figure out whether the infinitive clause in this sentence is complement based on the context, is my understanding right?
    – jammy yang
    Apr 28 '19 at 9:13
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    @jammyyang The grammar and meanings work together. Compare these three examples: "We booked early so that we could be sure of getting good seats" (purpose adjunct) / "We couldn't get on the plane because the airline had overbooked" (result adjunct) / "The airline had overbooked, so that we couldn't get on the plane" (result adjunct).
    – BillJ
    Apr 28 '19 at 9:29
  • Thank you, what if I complicate the sentence a little bit, "We support the decision he made to fire the incompetent workers" . The infinitive clause will be complement a complement licensed by gap(expanding the meaning of gap), and gap derives the meaning from decision, is this right?
    – jammy yang
    Apr 28 '19 at 12:36
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    Yes: "We support the decision (that) he made ____ to fire the incompetent workers". Here the infinitival is complement of 'gap', which is interpreted as "decision".
    – BillJ
    Apr 28 '19 at 13:47

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