{"id":13831,"date":"2015-04-25T09:28:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T13:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=13831"},"modified":"2015-04-25T09:28:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T13:28:26","slug":"me-myself-and-i-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/me-myself-and-i-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"Me, Myself and I Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"T-shirt\"<\/a>At Collingwood Council meetings, you will always hear someone say<\/strong> “Moved by myself…” when presenting a motion at\u00a0the table.*<\/span><\/p>\n

Argh!<\/em> Where did these people go to school? Clearly our education system has failed us if people were raised to say that. And this is in the public record, too.<\/p>\n

To me it’s like nails on a blackboard. It’s like saying “I seen…” and “yous.”<\/p>\n

The grammatically correct way to present a motion is, of course, to say, “Moved by me…”<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why the mistake we so frequently hear at the table – and in fact in many other councils across the province?<\/p>\n

Common misunderstanding and discomfort, it appears are the cause, at least according to the grammar sites I read.<\/p>\n

People often (and incorrectly) think “me” is incorrect or even coarse (well, it is when you say something like “Me and my friends are going dancing” or “I got me a pickup truck…”). But this is misplaced.<\/p>\n

That unnecessary caution is\u00a0why some people will say things like “It is I” or “It’s for my wife and I” when they really should say “It is me” and “It’s for my wife and me.” And say “between you and I…” when they mean (or should say) “between you and me<\/strong>…”<\/p>\n

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\"Grammar“I” is the subjective pronoun, not<\/em> the objective one. That’s “me.” Saying ‘me’ is fine when it’s the object of a sentence or in a phrase like, “Moved by me…”<\/p>\n

So what about myself<\/em>? That’s called a reflexive pronoun<\/a> and to be used properly, it needs a reference back to the speaker (reflect =\u00a0reflexive) – i.e. a use of the subjective pronoun.<\/p>\n

For example, when someone says “I made it myself” \u00a0he or she\u00a0is being grammatically correct. “Myself” reflects back to the subject, “I.” When they say “It was made by myself” they are incorrect and should say “It was made by me.”<\/p>\n

Same with “Please contact me” – correct. “Please contact myself” – incorrect. Why? because in the latter\u00a0sentence, “myself” has nothing to reflect.<\/p>\n

Reflexive pronouns are always<\/em> the object of a sentence, never<\/em> the subject. So “Bill and I played ukulele last night” is correct. “Bill and myself played ukulele…” isn’t because “myself” cannot act as a subject. Just like you would never say “Bill and me played ukulele…” or use the pronoun by itself: “Myself played the ukulele…”<\/p>\n

A reflexive pronoun can be\u00a0the direct object of a transitive verb. For example: “I cut myself with a knife” and “I am teaching myself Latin.” Note in both cases, the subject is “I” which remains in the sentence. If you say “Cut myself with a knife,” the “I” is understood. But you can’t say “Myself cut me” or “Me cut myself…”<\/p>\n

A reflexive\u00a0can be an indirect object too, when the indirect object<\/a> is the same as the subject of the verb:<\/p>\n