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Grouch of the Day - Reflexive pronouns
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From
14/01/2009 19:05:39
 
 
General information
Forum:
Politics
Category:
Other
Miscellaneous
Thread ID:
01373152
Message ID:
01373828
Views:
19
I myself applaud you in your efforts to curb self-abuse.

>>>>>>Use of these is getting worse. Some examples, not from real life, but typical of what I've experienced/heard a lot lately:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>"Hi Mr McDonnell. I was wondering if our offer has reached yourself yet."
>>>>>>"Could you manage to make payment to ourselves by the end of the week."
>>>>>>"We're sending the order to yourselves direct."
>>>>>>"There's just myself and yourself here."
>>>>>
>>>>>Don't you just love those? In fact, a couple of my friends were talking to myself about this just the other day. ;)
>>>>
>>>>The moronic rule of thumb would appear to be "if the sentence requires a pronoun, replace it with one of those pronouns with 'self/selves' on the end"
>>>
>>>Yeah, drives me nuts, too. Here's what I have about this on my website (http://www.tomorrowssolutionsllc.com/writingtips.htm):
>>>
>>>Don't abuse the "self" words. These words ("myself," "yourself," etc.) belong in a sentence only if the corresponding pronoun has already appeared. For example, this is correct:
>>>
>>>"I'll take care of it myself."
>>>
>>>But this is wrong:
>>>
>>>"He had a meeting with John and myself."
>>>
>>>That should be:
>>>
>>>"He had a meeting with John and me."
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>Interesting. I learned it somewhat differently. I learned that myself should only be used if the subject is 'you.' As in:
>>
>>I'll take care of it myself. I'm the subject so I can use myself.
>>Mary gave a gift to John and me. I'm not the subject so I can't use myself.
>>
>>I tend to speak by habit now, but when I was in school, I used 'myself' if I used 'I' as the subject earlier in the sentence.
>
>As in "I, me, myself, personally speaking, like ..."? :-)
>
>>
>>Or is that what you meant by 'corresponding pronoun?'


Charles Hankey

Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.

-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin

Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
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