Friday, December 5, 2008

Myself

The word "myself" is a reflexive pronoun. Correct uses include the following:
  • I shot myself in the foot.
  • Nobody helped me make the bread, so I ate it all myself.
  • I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter.
Sadly, I hear a lot of incorrect uses -- as a substitute for "me," or even "I."  For example, I have heard the following (slightly changed to protect the guilty):
  • When you're done with that, give it to Bill or myself.
  • Myself and John went to the concert.
Well known, educated people spoke the undisguised versions of the above.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, the well-known and the educated take poetic license. An example that readily comes to my mind is:

If I were Lord of Tartary,

Myself, and me alone,...