I took him to the doctor myself. In the OP's original example sentence, there are three reasons why the reflexive is incorrect: "Serious gardeners like my wife and me/myself always use organic fertilizer.". It doesn't mean the same thing as simply "I fixed the car" at all. 1. ]Before the meeting, she allowed herself time to park her car. Mikael, Many notice and are bothered, but few will point it out.The concept is quite simple. 4. If not, "Serious gardeners" is and "like my wife and I" is descriptive of "serious gardeners." My co-star and me are just friends. You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! In my comment I referred to an "adjectival phrase," which is inaccurate; "like my wife and me" is a prepositional phrase. Some people might not like this usage, but that doesn't make it wrong. 2. Is it me or myself? To compare -- “She is taller than I,” for instance -- use the subjective pronoun. I used to have a boss (in an ESL school, no less) who would write memos that read, "Please return this form to the secretary or myself...." and I'd have to go sit in a dark room for a few hours with a cold compress. Merriam-Webster's "Dictionary of English Usage" is more nuanced on the subject of using "myself" objectively, and they say this: "Two general statements can be made about what these critics say concerning "myself": first, they do not like it, and second, they do not know why.". I lived above the garage because my mother and me argued constantly. (It should be "as a cigarette should").   Permalink [Always wrong] This page has lots of examples and an interactive test.   Permalink [Obviously wrong] So it should be "we went to the mall," and "I and she," but maybe better, "She and I went to the mall." Thus, They gave I the gift. They're only "technically ungrammatical" if by "technically ungrammatical" we mean "people like Brian Garner don't like them. out of the sentence: "Serious gardeners like me always use organic fertilizer." Myself is a reflexive or intensive pronoun. As an adverb, however, it describes how the fixing of the car was done, i.e. "Gardeners" can only be reflexive with "themselves", not with "me". Although I agree that Shakespeare often uses myself etc incorrectly, I think in the example above it could (this would depend on the context - I haven't looked it up) be interpreted as an abbreviated form of I myself, but then the use of hath is strange. Use the object pronoun "me. Plural: ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. The example "my wife and myself" works because there are two syllables on either side of the "and", the stress is on "wife" and "self" (second syllable in each case), giving both people equal weight. “I ran to the store” and “Sarah and I drove all night,” for example. ", There also seems to be the perception that "myself" as the object of a preposition is more upscale than "me":http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/002458.html. Still, many of my beta readers fail to catch some of the errors. In the example 'with John and without me,' the words 'John' and 'me' are the objects of the prepositions. If I delete “me/myself” and simplify the sentence per his suggestion, then I get the following: “Serious gardeners always use organic fertilizer” or“I always use organic fertilizer” … therefore …“Serious gardeners like I always use organic fertilizer.” (This sounds odd.). “Myself” functions as a reflexive or intensive pronoun. Me Or Myself After Preposition? 1. Here are some simpler, more obvious examples: "I pat myself (on the back)..." "I kick myself (for being such a … Would anyone care to offer an opinion on the following sentence, with which I am currently struggling? Direct or indirect objects of verbs. The object of a preposition is usually the noun or pronoun immediately to the right of the preposition. 5 votes Again, "myself" is the preposition's object, part of a prepositional phrase,and really should be "me". I weighed myself. "Ce sera moi" is good French.   Report Abuse, Should be "Serious gardeners like my wife and I always use organic fertilizer.". I would in this case take issue with the use of "myself" in the sentence "I fixed the car myself," to be adverbial. The second is that the speaker is not the object of the verb "use" - therefore, the reflexive object pronoun is unnecessary. However, bad grammar is like having bad breath. Her poetry publications include Wearing the Phantom Out (2013) and Rumi’s Falcon from Neuma Books. "Clearly turning that around and saying "Don and I will make the trip" is correct, but with the word order given, "I" at the end just seems stuffy. Example: I finished the project.Me is always used as the object. Living Room (2010) and Traces of a Woman (2014), both by Neuma Books, are available as ebooks. [Wrong] One of the most common grammar errors you see and hear today is the. Therefore me and myself are incorrect.   Permalink ]We voted to give ourselves a raise. Learn More. A bit late, but I just read your question. I can't believe we are arguing this. A thousand pardons. 2. Sorry, I think I misread the sentence and put a wrong comment. The last of which is fine by me; I find myself less prescriptivist with each passing day. [Correct]. ", 6 votes The former emphatically states who did it. Mentally delete the first part of the subject and object. How many would hold up the grammar benoted in the scripts of today's movies as byspels of good grammar? It is, I believe, a superfluous modifier - if I fixed the car, after all, it could have been no one else, and so there's no reason to point out that it was "myself" - it's tautological. A: It's OK to say "my wife and myself" even though it's grammatically dodgy. One of my workshop participants said that the misuse is like having someone scrape their fingernails on a blackboard. Um, I believe in Grammar Girl. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Remember folks, the great Bard was a playwright! or fill in the name and email fields below: The speaker hasn't actually referred to himself with the word "gardener," rather to gardeners in general, so the reflexive pronoun "myself" would be incorrect. The objective case, “me,” will function as a direct object, indirect object or object of the preposition, while the subjective form “I” will function as the subject. In any case, "my wife and I" needs to be subjective like "serious gardeners." In the fragment ...like myself..., the pronoun "myself" is not reflexive. C: The authors at Merriam-Webster are descriptivist pussies. To sum up, never use a reflexive as a subject, and never use a reflexive as an object if someone other than the speaker is performing the action. I hope that my idea continues to do much good for myself and others. What Is the Difference Between Parts of Speech & Parts of a Sentence? Warsaw will. When functioning as a predicative nominative -- a noun or pronoun renaming the sentence’s subject -- use “I.” For example, “The girl you spoke with is I.” “I” and “the girl you spoke with” are the same person, so “I” is used. In Scotland it has an additional meaning - "I need to take a day off" - "Oh, you'll need to speak to himself"(ie the boss) , or "And how's yourself today". Required fields are marked *. As an aspiring author, I can say that my work of fiction is not 100% grammatically correct and that is often done on purpose. The phrase in no way calls for, or requires, a reflexive pronoun. Is “like I” correct here? Yet it's no less direct...". Serious gardeners like my wife and me always use organic fertilizer. They are used to restate or emphasize another noun or pronoun in the sentence: The king himself signed the proclamation. The following constructions are incorrect: Myself and the others attended the concert. You also know that a preposition is a word that comes before one noun to show its relationship to another word in the phrase or clause. And incidentally, "myself" etc are used either reflexively "I hurt myself", "I couldn't control myself", or emphatically "I did it myself, nobody else was to blame" - I'm not sure what you mean by "reflexive emphasis".