Is "to board Flight 139" an attribute or complement in this sentence?

Question

I am trying to diagram this sentence:

This is the last call for passengers to board Flight 139 at Gate 57.

Here is my specific problem: I'm not sure "to board Flight 139" here is either attribute or complement (esp. "for passengers", I do not know the role it plays in this sentence in structure "for somebody to do something").

Can anyone explain how this might work grammatically?

Answer 1

Notice that all three sentences:

This is the last call for passengers.
This is the last call to board Flight 139.
This is the last call at Gate 57.

Are all correct and the final phrases all mean much the same as in the the full sentence. This suggests that each phrase is independent of the others, and in particular "to board flight 139" is not an adjunct of "passengers".

Answer 2

to board Flight 139 =

an infinitive phrase

What Is an Infinitive Phrase? (with Examples) An infinitive phrase is the infinitive form of a verb plus any complements and modifiers.

The complement of an infinitive verb will often be its direct object, and the modifier will often be an adverb.

For example: He likes to

knead the dough slowly. (The infinitive verb is to knead. The complement is its direct object (the dough). The modifier is the adverb (slowly). They all make up the infinitive phrase (the shaded text).)

Examples of Infinitive Phrases Here are some examples of infinitive phrases (shaded):
He helped to build the roof.
The officer returned to help the inspectors.
Let me show you the best way to fit a door quickly.
She tells you to dance like no one is watching.

infinitive phrases

This=subject

is the last call= predicate

for passengers= prepositional phrase

to board Flight 139 = infinitive clause

In simple grammatical terms.

a call in airline terminology means an announcement over a loudspeaker.

Just like:

This is the last chance for him to do his homework.

There are thousands of prepositional phrases with for + a noun or pronoun.

Grammatical function of infinitive clauses:

"A subordinate clause with an infinitive often acts as the subject or object of the main clause. In the following examples, the whole infinitive clause [in bold] is understood as the subject of is human, is decadent or was unnecessary.

• To err is human.
• To drink Martinis before noon is decadent.
• For Mervyn to redirect Maggie's mail was unnecessary."

[...]

"And in the following examples, the whole infinitive clause [again in bold] is understood as the direct object of hates, loves and expected.

• Jim hates to wash his car."

grammatical function

Answer 3

I have checked some material which says "for somebody to do something" is a compound structure used to be attribute such as "It’s time for everybody to go to bed." So in this example (This is the last call for passengers to board Flight 139 at Gate 57.) this is the subject; is the predicate; the last call is the predicative or complement for subject; and for passengers to board Flight 139 at Gate 57 is the attributive. is that right? and I wonder if "for passengers to board Flight 139 at Gate 57" could be divided intensively?

Answer 4

To make it more cognizable let us take up the pattern where we have the preposional complementation by the infinitive clause: "The stewardess called for the passengers to board the plane". Here we are dealing with monotransitive complementation by the nonfinite clause. In this case the construction is that of a preposional verb "call for" and the infinitive clause acting as prepositional object.

To verify this:

1. You can replace the infinitive clause by a pronoun or noun phrase: The stewardess called for it; The stewardess called for the boarding of the plane.
2. It can be an answer to a what-question: What did the stewardess call for? ... for the passengers to board the plane. (In cases of the complex transitive complementation - "The stewardess called the passengers to board the plane", you can't say: What did she call?, you can ask: Whom did she call to board the plane? - she called the passengers).
3. It can easily be the focus of a pseudo-cleft sentence: What the stewardess called for was for the passengers to board the plane.
4. Being an object, the infinitive clause can become a subject in the passive: "For the passangers to board the plane is called for".
5. When the object of the infinitive clause, which is "the plane", is turned into the passive form, there is no change of meaning: "The stewardess called for the plane to be boarded by the passengers". (You can't transform "The stewardess called the passengers to board the plane" into "The stewardess called the plane to be boarded by the passengers").
6. In a reduced construction the infinitive marker "to" remains: "The stewardess called for the passengers to". It does not have the same meaning as: "The stewardess called for the passengers" (which means that she demanded that the passengers should come up to her).

As regards your original sentense there is an important difference to be discerned. For example: "This is the last call for the stewardess to give forth", where the nonfinite clause is an attribute (postmodifier) and the predicative (the last call for the stewardess to give forth) acts as a subject complement. But in your pattern the nonfinite clause is rather a relative clause of purpose functioning as an adverbial modifier of purpose. You can ask: "What is the last call intended for" - "It is intended for the passengers to board the flight".