Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Me vs Myself

Me, myself, and I may refer to the same person, but they are not interchangeable. Myself should be the one you hear the least, but it's often used incorrectly in place of me.
 

Me

Me is an object pronoun, which means that it refers to the person that the action of a verb is being done to, or to which a preposition refers.

They want me to study more.

Tell me a story.

Between you and me, he's right.

Carol wants to meet with John and me tomorrow.

The book was written entirely by me.

Please call Hillary or me with any questions.


Myself

Myself is a reflexive or stressed pronoun, which means that, generally speaking, it should be used in conjunction with the subject pronoun I, not instead of the object pronoun me.

I bought myself a car.

I myself started the company.

I did the laundry by myself.

I feel like myself again.

Tired of waiting, I just did it myself.

  
The Bottom Line

Myself can be used for stress, but most grammarians won't allow it to be used alone - they reject constructions like "Carol wants to meet with John and myself" (correct: with John and me") and "The book was written entirely by myself" (correct: by me personally).

Just remember that myself can be reflexive (I'm doing something to/for myself) or emphatic (I myself). Otherwise, you probably want to use me.

1 comment:

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