Browse Definitions :

There are two ways—and two ways ONLY—that you can correctly refer to yourself as “myself”

Writing for Business

Is this sentence grammatically correct?
I, myself, would never dream of sharing an offer for a free $250 Walmart gift card on Facebook, but people do it all the time.


Answer: Yes.

Explanation:

There are two ways—and two ways only—that you can refer to yourself as “myself” in a sentence. Both of them involve sentences that also include either “I” or “me.”  In this case, “myself” is an intensive pronoun, added for emphasis. The other correct usage is as a reflexive pronoun, for example when “I” is the subject of the sentence—the actor—and “myself” is the object—the one acted upon. Here’s an example: “I embarrass myself when I use incorrect grammar.”

Here’s what you can’t do—and if you think you can, you are wrong: You cannot replace “I” or “me” in a sentence with “myself.” That use is incorrect, despite the frequency with which it’s used in the business world. It’s used so frequently, in fact, that I can imagine a day when the grammatical rule is changed to reflect use. However, I will fight that change with the last breath in my body.

The problem usually occurs when the writer or speaker is referring to themselves in conjunction with another person. One easy way to see if “myself” is correct is to take that other person out of the equation.

Example: If you have any questions, please call John or myself.

Would you ever say “Please call myself”? I hope not.  See more examples here and more information about personal pronouns here. Take this quiz if you like: Pronoun quiz: This time it’s personal

Are you a business person (or a politician—they’re pretty bad too)? Do you refer to yourself as “myself” incessantly and incorrectly? Please stop. It makes you look stupid.

I’ll admit that incorrect use of “myself” is my #1 pet peeve. Usually I would have said “makes you look less intelligent than you might wish” instead of “makes you look stupid.” In this case, I just barely held myself back from typing “makes you look like an idiot.” Probably in caps.

The better-tempered Richard Nordquist provides more information about intensive pronouns.

 Follow me on Twitter @tao_of_grammar

Dig Deeper on Writing for Business

Networking
  • firewall as a service (FWaaS)

    Firewall as a service (FWaaS), also known as a cloud firewall, is a service that provides cloud-based network traffic analysis ...

  • private 5G

    Private 5G is a wireless network technology that delivers 5G cellular connectivity for private network use cases.

  • NFVi (network functions virtualization infrastructure)

    NFVi (network functions virtualization infrastructure) encompasses all of the networking hardware and software needed to support ...

Security
  • virus (computer virus)

    A computer virus is a type of malware that attaches itself to a program or file. A virus can replicate and spread across an ...

  • Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)

    Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) is an advanced certification that indicates that an individual possesses the ...

  • cryptography

    Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communications using codes, so that only those for whom the information is...

CIO
  • IT project management

    IT project management is the process of planning, organizing and delineating responsibility for the completion of an ...

  • chief financial officer (CFO)

    A chief financial officer (CFO) is the corporate title for the person responsible for managing a company's financial operations ...

  • chief strategy officer (CSO)

    A chief strategy officer (CSO) is a C-level executive charged with helping formulate, facilitate and communicate an ...

HRSoftware
  • HR automation

    Human resources automation (HR automation) is a method of using software to automate and streamline repetitive and laborious HR ...

  • compensation management

    Compensation management is the discipline and process for determining employees' appropriate pay and benefits.

  • HR technology (human resources tech)

    HR technology (human resources technology) is an umbrella term for hardware and software used to automate the human resource ...

Customer Experience
  • martech (marketing technology)

    Martech (marketing technology) refers to the integration of software tools, platforms, and applications designed to streamline ...

  • transactional marketing

    Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on single, point-of-sale transactions.

  • customer profiling

    Customer profiling is the detailed and systematic process of constructing a clear portrait of a company's ideal customer by ...

Close