Usage of Me/Myself

Question

Hey Friends,Can somebody please help me with these sentences? I always get confused :-)1) I live with one person. Me/Myself and Mr.A2) There are two people in the house. Me/Myself and Mr.A3) There are two people in the house including me/myself4) Me/Myself and my cousin are looking forward to meet everybody that would be attending    the sports event.Fairly simple ones but I alwyas get confused. Thanks a lot!

Yankee · Accepted Answer

Hi AABB1,

Number 1 not only seems illogical, but it also does not seem natural -- not even as very informal English.

Number 2: 'Me' is OK in informal English. 'Myself' may tend to sound pompous or over-done, and I would not expect people to consider it grammatical. Standard would be 'Mr. A and I'.

Number 3 is grammatical and also natural with 'me'. The use of 'myself' also seems to work well since 'including myself' seems akin to saying 'when I include myself'.

Number 4: The use of 'me' is not grammatical, but may be heard in casual conversation. The use of 'myself' would generally not be acceptable either. The standard format would be 'My cousin and I'.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

This is what I would say:

AABB11) I live with one person. Me/Myself and Mr.A - I live with a roommate, Mr. A.

2) There are two people in the house. Me/Myself and Mr.A
There are two people living in this house, Mr.A and me.
3) There are two people in the house including me/~~myself~~

4) ~~Me/Myself~~ I and my cousin are looking forward to meeting everybody that would be attending
the sports event
This one seems tricky and I must be careful. If we say "my cousin and I...", I know it is correct; the part I am not 100% sure is, if " I and my cousin are ..." is acceptable as they are not commonly grammatically put together.

AABB1 · Answer

Hey Buddy,

That was very helpful! Thanks a lot!

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi AABB

Reflexive pronouns (ending in -self) are used in a sentence when the pronoun subject is "reflected" in the object.

Here is the perfect example:

He saw me in the mirror.
I saw him in the mirror.

But what happens when the subject sees his own face reflected in the mirror? This is a case where the reflexive pronoun is used.

I saw myself in the mirror.
He saw himself in the mirror. (Bob saw himself in the mirror.)

The same happens when you do something and you (the same person) are the object (direct, indirect or object of preposition)

I dressed myself.
She hurt herself.
He blamed himself for failing the test.
She sent herself an email.

(You) Send yourself an email.

I cooked dinner for myself.

It fell off the table all by itself. (It did not have any help.)

There is another use of reflexive - to intensify a pronoun.
I don't need your help. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself.
(I myself can do it.)

Reflexive pronouns are not correct when there is no "reflection"
Myself likes iced tea. (WRONG)
She likes Bob and myself. (WRONG)
Bob saw myself in the mirror. (WRONG)
There are three people in my house - Bob, Ann, and myself. (WRONG, but you will sometimes hear this in conversational English)
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All that being said, sometimes the reflective pronouns are used in casual conversations (for intensity). And they can be more common in certain English dialects.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Excellent explanations! [Y]

Cpu park · Answer

I apologize for being silent recently but Mr Acampora and myself were in Tallahassee with Prime Meridian making them happy.

Usage of Me/Myself

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