Often I’ll hear someone say something like, “Bill and myself went to the movies,” but I would think “Bill and me went to the movies” would be more correct. Or someone will answer a question with, “It’s for myself.” But wouldn’t “It’s for me” be correct?
I know next to nothing about English grammar, so I am wondering when “myself” should be used and when “me” should be used.
I was taught that it should be Bill and I went to movies. Just remove Bill from the sentence and see if it makes sense was the rule.
But me am old and maybe the rules have changed. Myself isn’t sure of things anymore.
The best way I can suggest is to take Bill out of your sentence, and see if it holds up. So, you’d never say “Me went to the movies” or even “Myself went to the movies.” The only correct option you have here is “I went to the movies.”
Pretty simple, but it works for me.
+1
Sounds a good premise for maintaining the rule.
Some pronouns are subject pronouns; they are the subject of the sentence: I, you, she, he, they.
Some pronouns are object pronouns: they are the object of the verb in the sentence: me, you, her, him, them.
Would you say “him went to the movies”? or “her walked down the street”?
If not, why would you say “me went to the movies” or “me walked down the street”?
You don’t use an object pronoun just because the subject is a pair of pronouns, or a name and a pronoun.
You don’t say “She and him went to the movies”, so why would you say “She and me went to the movies”?
Myself however is a reflexive pronoun, typically used when the antecedent has already been used in the same sentence, so its use avoids any awkwardness when referring back to said antecedent:
“I did it all myself!” vs. “I did it all me!”
Could be considered a subtype of object pronouns (i.e. can never be the subject of a verb).
This is never correct, as others have stated, because “myself” is an object, not a subject.
But neither is it correct to say “She gave it to Bill and myself”, even though myself is used as an object here. “Myself” is supposed to be used as @John_DiFool describes above - “I did something to myself” or “He did it himself”.
For reflexive pronouns to work, the sentence needs to have had the first instance, right? So:
“I sent the list to Larry, Curly, Moe, and myself” – right, because “myself” refers back to “I” at the start of the sentence. But:
“If you have any questions, please contact Larry, Curly, Moe, or myself” – wrong, because “myself” is the first instance of the pronoun referring to the speaker, so there’s no need for reflexivity here. “Me” should have been used: “Please contact Larry, Curly, Moe, or me.”
In my humble opinion, a lot of people are afraid to use “me” as the object of a sentence, because their grade school teachers drilled the word out of their heads. “Johnny and me went to the store” got you a knuckle-rapping, so people got the idea “me” was a bad word. This is why we have constructions like “Between you and I” and “Please email myself” – fear of “me” sounding wrong.
Myself instead of me is frequently used by good writers, meaning writers who are nominally professional users of language writing in publications that nominally have standards for the use of words.
Here’s an example from 2002 in an article on the reflexive pronoun.
Another professor – oblivious of the irony in his own comment – says that the only people in his department who care about grammar “are two other instructors and myself.”
Like most other usage issues that get pedants griping, myself has been used in place of I or me since basically forever. Merriam-Webster has a long article on it.
Myself in these settings has been objected to since the late 19th century, though critics have never been able to put their collective finger on what’s so bad about it. It’s been called snobbish, unstylish, self-indulgent, self-conscious, old-fashioned, timorous, colloquial, informal, formal, nonstandard, incorrect, mistaken, literary, and unacceptable in formal written English.
We find the usages, however, to be widespread even in literary sources dating back at least four centuries. [enormous list of usages follows]
The articles should explain why myself feels wrong and why it’s nevertheless often used in regular colloquial English. Most people write myself in places where they would also write “It’s me,” another technically incorrect usage that is now all but ubiquitous in common language.
If you are writing for an academic journal, be careful. Otherwise, whatever you would normally say in spoken English is allowable in written English. That eliminates weird creations like “Myself am not a pedant, me is just a normal speaker.”
You aren’t the only one that gets confused:
When I was young, over-use of “me” for “I” was stigmatized as semi-literate – “Jerry and me was goin’ to the movies.” (This is pretty much what Briny_Deep says above.) Nowadays, people are over-compensating in the other direction: “Jerry had a good time with Sally and I.” Sadly, I suspect that this latter aberration may become the norm. But for now, stick with the sound advice of Deanna_D in picking out the right case.
Using “me” is simply a mistake - using “myself” is an erroneous “hypercorrection”. Generally those errors occur when someone is trying too hard to be right.
But it’s quite correct to say; “I went to the movies by myself.”
There are several correct ways to use “myself”:
As a direct object when the subject and direct object are both the first person: “I fell and hurt myself”.
As an indirect object when the subject and indirect object are both the first person" “I bought myself a toy”.
As an intensifier for a first person subject: “I myself did the whole job”.
It’s usually wrong when used non-reflexively; that is, when “I” or “me” has not been previously mentioned in the sentence, as in the OP’s examples.
Yes, myself can be either intensive or reflexive. Intensive pronouns are usually placed directly after the noun. For example, I myself am typing this post.
Reflexive pronouns are objects in sentences, For example, I wrote this post by myself.
Using it otherwise always sounds stilted and overcorrected to me, like someone is trying to sound smarter than they are: “You can show the presentation to Dave and myself.”
It reminds me of when people use “fulsome” when they mean “extensive” or “complete” – a fulsome review of the project.
I know all of the above uses are probably correct and have been around for thousands of years and the best writers ever have used them, but I still don’t like them. Also, pronouncing the T in “often”.