4

Is "myself" correct in the following sentence? Or should I use "me"?

It will be a historic moment for myself because I turn eighteen.

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    You will hear more than a few native speakers saying myself there because they are misremembering their grammar lessons from school. At home they would probably say for me but in public and in writing they would "correct" themselves (in error) and use for myself. There is a considerable overlap between that group of people and those who say, in error, "with her and I", because they think it is the "proper" way to speak. This is a byproduct of our educational system, not a natural linguistic development.
    – TimR
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 20:15

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

In normal usage, the reflexive pronoun ("myself", in this case) is reserved for occasions where the actor is also the object or target of the action.

If you say "Fred punched John", then Fred is the actor, and John is the direct object (the thing receiving the action, or being acted upon). If Fred is doing the punching, and Fred is hitting his own body, that's when you break out the reflexive pronoun: "Fred punched himself".

In your situation, there is no action that you are taking, so the use of the reflexive pronoun is not called for.

Improve this answer
1

To expand on the other answers, I wouldn't say that it's entirely incorrect, but it sounds a little old fashioned, or as if you're trying to make a contrast with someone else. For example, saying something like

For myself, this is a historic moment

sounds like you're saying "It might not be historic for other people, but for me it is". It puts more emphasis on you.

But don't worry too much, if you used "myself" when talking to someone, they wouldn't misunderstand you.

The bigger "error" in the sentence though, is "because I turn eighteen". It would be more correct to use the present progressive "because I'm turning eighteen". That goes for most situations in english that are happening in the present. "I go home" -> "I'm going home".

Saying something like "I eat cake" makes it sound like it's something you do frequently, or enjoy doing, but not something that you're doing right now.

Improve this answer
1

No, myself should be me. The word "myself" should be reserved for cases where you really want to emphasize that you were the one involved, or if you are specifically amplifying the word "I".

  • It was not for my family. It was not for my friends. It was for myself.
  • It was an accident, and nobody else was involved. I myself killed their cat.
Improve this answer
0

I would rewrite your sentence like this:

It will be a historic moment for me because I'm going to turn eighteen.

I can't explain why, but having me there instead of myself just sounds better.

Improve this answer
1
  • Okay, thanks! I was just wondering because I had a grammar test and I changed the "me" to "myself" in the sentence provided and in return had the question marked incorrect.
    – Adam
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 18:23

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .