The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

The TO-infinitive in non-finite relative clauses

The to-infinitive is often used in non-finite defining relative clauses after ordinal numbers (the first, the second etc.), superlatives (the best, the most beautiful etc.) and after next, last and only:

Neil Armstrong was

the first

person

to land

on the moon.

(Neil Armstrong was the first person

who landed

on the moon.)

The last

person

to leave

should turn off the lights.

(The last person

who leaves

should turn off the lights.)

Mike was

the only

one

to help

me.

(Mike was the only one

who helped

me.)

Passive infinitives are also possible:

His was the last composition

to be marked

.

(His was the last composition which was marked.)

Related topics:

Defining relative clause

Cleft sentences