Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ting_yuko]

Having already won a major competition, Bernard was eligible to play in the championships without competing in a qualifying event.

Why can't it be "Already won a major competition" instead?

[Anuradha Chepur]

Because it will be a subject-less sentence then, and unlike English. (Having is your gerundial subject here.)

[Mister Micawber]

.
It looks more like a nonfinite (present perfect participial) clause to me, with no subject; the nonfinite verb is having won. The absent subject must be assumed to be Bernard:

[Bernard] Having already won a major competition, Bernard was eligible to play in the championships.

Otherwise, it would be dangling:

(X) Having already won a major competition, the judges declared Bernard eligible for the championships.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[Anuradha Chepur]

Ah! Now I get it.

Bernard was eligible to play in the championships without competing in a qualifying event, having already won a major competition.

The "Bernard. . . ." part is your main sentence, with Bernard as the subject as it is quite straight. 'having. . . . ' is the adjunct which has been scrambled to the right.