"In meeting him, he’s quite a unique person." - Keanu Reeves, on The Lake House director Alejandro Agresti
This quote contains two errors: Keanu introduced this sentence with a dangling participle and then incorrectly modified an absolute adjective.
The subject of this sentence is "he." The introductory participial phrase, "In meeting him," should modify the subject of the sentence. However, that "he" (Alejandro) met "him" (Alejandro) does not make sense. To correct this sentence, introduce a subject that can be modified by the participial phrase.
"Unique" is an absolute adjective that means "unlike any other." One is either like another or not like another; one cannot be very much like another. (One can be like another in many ways, but that goes beyond the definition of this word.) Keanu's use of "quite" to modify "unique" is therefore incorrect.
A new meaning of “unique” has developed: the definition of this word has come to include “unusual,” which is not absolute and can be modified in a comparative manner. However, the writers of standardized examinations do not consider this definition to be standard American English. Students taking these tests are expected to recognize that modifying the word "unique" in this manner is an error to be identified and corrected.
This revision of Keanu's statement avoids the dangling participle and does not include a modifier for the absolute adjective "unique":
"In meeting him, I found him to be a unique person."
Post a comment