read for youself!
http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#34
;)
Me, Myself, or I?
According to
The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, "
Myself is best used either reflexively (I have decided to exclude myself from consideration) or intensively (I myself have seen instances of that type).
But myself shouldn't appear as a substitute for I or me. Using it that way is thought somehow to be modest, as if the reference were less direct [emphasis added]. Yet it's no less direct, and the user may unconsciously cause the reader or listener to assume an intended jocularity, or that the user is somewhat doltish. E.g.: 'The exclusion of women and women's concerns is self-defeating. For instance,
myself and other women in Hollywood [read
many women in Hollywood, including me,] would deliver millions of dollars of profit to the film industry if we could make films and television shows about the lives of real women' (
L.A. Times)./ 'My wife and
myself [read
I] were in a religious cult for over 15 years before the leader fell over dead' (
Bloomington Pantagraph)(224). Some useful suggestions from
The Grammar Bible:
1) "The reflexive pronouns often refer or
reflect back to the subject of the sentence. I gave
myself the day off. My parents treated
themselves to a night on the town. In the first sentence, the pronoun myself refers back to the subject I. In the second sentence, the pronoun themselves refers back to the subject parents. In a sense, these pronouns are turning the action of the verb back to the subject of the sentence.
2) The reflexive pronouns may also fill an emphatic role. Here, these pronouns place emphasis on another noun or pronoun in the sentence. You
yourself told me to ask for a raise. Janet built the house
herself. In the first example, the pronoun
yourself emphasizes the subject you, and in the second, the pronoun
herself emphasizes the subject
Janet.
3) Never use a reflexive pronoun in place of a standard personal pronoun. They are correctly used only in the reflexive or emphatic roles. The following sentences are incorrect:
John and
myself repaired the copy machine. (incorrect)
Jane drove Sherry and
myself to the movies. (incorrect)
They should read:
John and
I repaired the copy machine. (correct)
Jane drove Sherry and
me to the movies. (correct)
This problem most often occurs when someone substitutes the singular, first-person reflexive pronoun
myself for one of the singular, first person personal pronouns
I or
me. Be careful! (Strumpf 191-192).
4) The Grammarlady offers the following advice: "DO NOT USE THE SELF WORDS TO AVOID CHOOSING BETWEEN 'I' and 'ME.'" "IF ONE OF THE PRONOUNS IS 'I,' IT COMES LAST IN THE SERIES" (
Dear Grammar Lady 6-7). Example: "Myself, my sister Mary, and my mom went to Chicago last week." Put the
I last in the sequence, and the sentence would read, "My sister Mary, my mom, and
I went to Chicago last week."
ps sorry i'm a virgo.. does that tell u anything???
Jul 15, 05
