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Can myself be used as emphasis in the following sentence, or is another word preferable (e.g. also, too)?

I myself found difficult to believe to what she was saying, but then she gave me the proof.

Is there any difference between saying I myself found difficult to believe it, I am the first who found difficult to believe it, and I also found difficult to believe it?

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Yes, you can use myself for emphasis in that sentence. What it emphasizes it your incredulity. It means "Even I found it difficult to believe what she was saying, but then she gave me the proof."

"I myself found difficult to believe it." is ungrammatical and meaningless. It has to be "I myself found it difficult to believe." or "It was difficult for me to believe it".

Notice the two its. They serve different functions in this sentence.

"I am the first who found difficult to believe." is ungrammatical and meaningless. It has to be "I am the first who found it difficult to believe." This doesn't mean "I myself found it difficult to believe." It means that everyone else found it easy to believe.

"I also found difficult to believe it." is ungrammatical and meaningless. It has to be "I also found it difficult to believe." That means that everybody else found it difficult to believe.

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  • Talking with somebody who doesn't believe her, can I say "I was the first who didn't believe what she said, but then she gave me the proof." and get a similar meaning myself would give to the sentence? (In my example, I used "I am the first" which is probably not correct.) In the sentence I quoted (the longer one), should I change the position of difficult (e.g. putting it before the comma), or is that word in the right position?
    – apaderno
    May 19, 2013 at 17:09
  • @kiamlaluno: "I was the first who didn't believe what she said,..." implies that after you found it difficult, then others found it difficult & wanted to see the proof. Maybe others won't agree with my interpretation here, but the new syntax creates a different feeling in my mind. No, it doesn't cause the S to mean "I myself found it difficult..." Writing "I myself found to believe what she was saying difficult,..." is awkward to my ear; "I myself found it difficult to believe what she was saying,..." sounds natural to me.
    – user264
    May 19, 2013 at 17:26
  • @kiamlaluno Is "I myself can do nothing." formal? Shouldn't it better be like "I by myself can do nothing."? Do these two sentences have different meaning?
    – Zeeshan Ali
    Apr 18, 2019 at 5:50
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    @ZeeshanAli I think those two sentences have a slightly different meaning, but I am the user who asked the question (not posted this answer), so you should ask to somebody else, or ask a new question if somebody didn't ask it already.
    – apaderno
    Apr 18, 2019 at 8:16
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    For example, I myself is just a way to put emphasis on me, while I by myself could mean I alone, as in Alone, I cannot do anything.
    – apaderno
    Apr 18, 2019 at 8:18

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