Myself as a Simple Personal Pronoun

N an earlier issue of AMERICAN SPEECH1 the late Professor S. A. Leonard quotes a letter from a correspondent voicing his objection to the use of myself as a simple personal pronoun. The letter runs, A layman . . . is particularly distressed to see you permit the ridiculous practice that is such very common use of substituting 'myself' for 'me' such a sentence as the one you gave, 'They invited my friends and myself'; no one would say, 'they invited myself.' There are two points of particular interest this extract; one is the phrase in such very common use, an admission of the great currency of myself this construction, and the other is the confusing of the use of myself as sole object of a verb with its use as the second member of a compound object. As a matter of fact there are five distinct uses of myself as the substitute for a personal pronoun, ranging acceptability from obsolescence to current standard usage. They are: 1. Sole subject of a verb. Example: Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint . .. (Fitzgerald). This use is highly literary, but not current speech or prose writing. It is a part of poetic diction, and as such is good English. 2. Second member of a compound subject. Example: John and myself brought the Yule log home. This use is common popular speech, but is rare literature, although it occurs several times the letters of George Washington, sentences like this: From the moment Mrs. Washington and myself adopted the two youngest children ... It is scarcely established enough to be called current acceptable English. 3. After comparisons with than. Example: Enough to make a better man than myself . . .run into madness. (Richardson.) Frequently found literature and fully established current usage.2 4. Sole object of a verb or preposition. Example: To myself, mountains are the beginning and end of all natural scenery. (Ruskin.) This use is rare literature and more formal speech. It is not uncommon, however, the informal speech of cultivated

Epistemology · Linguistics · Object pronoun · Personal pronoun · Pronoun · Reflexive pronoun · Simple (philosophy · Subject pronoun · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Lexicography and Language Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Psychology · History · Philosophy