Grammar Girl here.
Today's topic is how to use the word “myself.”
Misusing “myself” is definitely one of the top things people complain to me about. Here's an example:
<caller comment>
The caller is right; people seem to be so afraid to use the words “me” and “I,” that they substitute “msyelf” in all kinds of inappropriate places.
“Me” Is the Object Pronoun
It's common to hear people say things like this: Please contact Squiggly, Aardvark, or myself with questions. Here's why that's wrong: the position of Squiggly, Aardvark, and the incorrect “myself” in the sentence is the object position, and “me” is the object pronoun you use to refer to yourself in a sentence like that.
An Easy Trick
The quick and dirty tip to get it right is to think about how you would say the sentence without Squiggly and Aardvark.
So here we go. You'd probably say, “Please contact me.”
I don't know why people mess it up more when there are multiple people in the sentence, but they do. It's not as if I've never heard anyone say, “Please contact myself,” but that kind of error is much more rare.
So once you know how to figure it out with just one person, you simply add in the other people: Please contact Squiggly, Aardvark, and me with questions. (We learned back in March in episode 163 that you always put yourself last in a list like that.)
“I” Is the Subject Pronoun
Is the rule any different when you're dealing with the subject of a sentence? No, but I hear errors like this all the time: Aardvark and myself will quench the fire.
That's wrong because Aardvark and the incorrect “myself” are in the subject position, and “I” is the subject pronoun you use to refer to yourself.
Again, try the one-person-limit test. The sentence is “I will quench the fire.” Once you have that, you can start adding in other people, again, keeping yourself last in the list: Aardvark and I will quench the fire.
“Myself” Is the Reflexive Pronoun
So by now you're probably asking when is it OK to use “myself”?
The word “myself” is what's called a reflexive pronoun. Think about looking in a mirror and seeing your reflection. You'd say, “I see myself in the mirror.” You see your reflection, and “myself” is a reflexive pronoun.
Other reflexive pronouns include “himself,” “herself,” “yourself,” “itself,” “themselves,” and so on.
You use reflexive pronouns to refer to the subject of a sentence again, later in the sentence. For example, you could say, “I see myself playing marimbas,” or, “I'm going to treat myself to a mud bath.” In both these cases you are the object of your own action; the subject is “I” and you use “myself” to refer back to that “I.”
If you're an astute listener, you will have noticed that “myself” is in the object position in the sentence “I see myself,” but I said earlier that “me” was the object pronoun.
Here's the rub. You use regular object pronouns when the subject and object are different, and the reflexive pronoun when they are the same. That's why it's right to say both “I saw him,” and “He saw himself.”
In “I saw him,” the subject and object are different people, so you use the object pronoun, “him.”
In “He saw himself,” the subject and object are the same person, so you use the reflexive pronoun, “himself.”
Again, it can help to remember the reflection analogy for reflexive pronouns. You have the real person (the subject) and the reflection (the object that is a reflexive pronoun).
“Myself Is Also a Intensive Pronoun
Reflexive pronouns can also be used to add emphasis to a sentence. (In case you care, then they're called intensive pronouns.) For example, if you had witnessed a murder, you could say, “I myself saw the madman's handiwork.” It's dramatic, but it's also grammatically correct.
If you want to emphasize how proud you are of your new artwork, you could say, “I painted it myself.” Again, “myself” just adds emphasis. The meaning of the sentence doesn't change if you take out the word “myself”; it just has a different feeling because now it lacks the added emphasis.
Summary
There you go! The quick and dirty tip is to think about how you would write the sentence if you were the only one in it, and then use that pronoun. For example, “Please contact me.” You can also remember that it's OK to use reflexive pronouns for emphasis and when the subject and object in the sentence are the same.
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That's all. Thank for listening.
