I Want Myself To Go Home

Question

a. I believe myself to be a genius.b. I want myself to go home. ??A book a non-native English teacher wrote says the second sentence is awkward, not providing reasonable/additional explanation. Would you be so kind as to tell me why the first one is accepted by you while the second one is not welcomed by you?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anonymousWould you ... tell me why the first one is accepted ... while the second one is not ...?

Every verb has its own properties. 'believe' and 'want' operate differently.

'I believe myself to be' is grammatical.
'I believe to be' is not grammatical.
(Only 'to be' is used in this pattern.)

Another verb like 'believe' is 'consider'.
I consider myself to be a proficient marksman.

'I want myself to (verb)' is not grammatical.
'I want to (verb)' is grammatical.
(Any verb can be used in this pattern.)

Another verb like 'want' is 'need'.
I need to buy some new shoes.

In the case of verbs like 'want', if the subject of 'want' and the subject of the second verb are different, we state the second subject explicitly:

I want you to tell me what happened.

And if the subject of 'want' and the subject of the second verb are the same, we leave out the second subject:

~~I want me to tell you what happened.~~
I want to tell you what happened.

Whenever possible, when you learn a verb, learn the patterns that are used with that verb.

CJ

I Want Myself To Go Home

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