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Among the earliest telescopes were Galilean telescopes, modeled after the simple instruments built by Galileo, the first person having used telescopes to study the stars and planets.

I know "having used" should be changed to "to have." Could someone point out the rule or reasoning behind this?

user1411469
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  • My "reasoning" is you're right that having used is wrong, but I can't see any reason to replace it by to have. What's wrong with just ...Galileo, the first person to use* telescopes...*? – FumbleFingers Jan 18 '15 at 15:49

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My old school grammar says:

A to-infinitive follows after the first/the last, the only, the few and after superlatives.

The infinitive expresses what has happened or will happen. The infinitive stands for a relative clause.

Unfortunatately I have no idea why English in theses cases prefers the infinitive construction instead of a relative clause. Of course, the infinitive is a little bit shorter but I think a relative clause is acceptable, too.

Examples

1 We were the first to enter (= who entered) the exhibition that day and

2 the last to leave.

3 You are not the only person to have been there (= who has been there).

4 This is the biggest exhibition to have taken place here since 1938.

Source: Grundzüge der englischen Grammatik, Klett Verlag, 1972.

rogermue
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  • Then again, "having used a telescope" would be grammatical to start a sentence. – Centaurus Jan 18 '15 at 15:01
  • You are right. Such a participle clause refers to the following subject. – rogermue Jan 18 '15 at 15:16
  • To-infinitive (a subset of non-finite) clauses can also be used after nouns. 'And you are the man to do that, I suppose?' I suppose that 'who is going' is deleted here. Again, there is the sense of specialness, uniqueness. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 18 '15 at 15:56