“To be found” clause is an adjective clause or adverbial clause? And what does it modify?

“This ring was nowhere to be found”

Question

“To be found” clause is an adjective clause or adverbial clause? And what does it modify?

“This ring was nowhere to be found”

Answer

The whole structure "nowhere to be found" is an idiom that functions as an adverbial phrase of location. Grammatically, it's not that different from saying the ring was "here", "there", "on her finger", "in the jewelry box", etc.

"To be found" is the passive infinitive of "to find." Within this idiom, it functions as an adverbial phrase within another adverbial phrase, since it further defines the adverb "nowhere."

Answer

In other words ... We looked and looked and looked and could not find the ring anywhere !

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