nouns - Rules for the usage of "me" VS. "myself"?



What are general guidelines for the use of "me" and "myself"?



Did I describe me or did I describe Maria?



OR



Did I describe myself or did I describe Maria?




Answer



The two parts separated by or are complete, independent sentences. As such, the presence of the second half ("did I describe Maria") has no impact on the first half at all.


Thus, the question is, which of these two is correct:





  1. Did I describe me?




  2. Did I describe myself?





The answer is (2), because myself is the object of the sentence, and I is the subject. Outside of stylized usage, if the (grammatical) subject and object are the same entity, the reflexive must be used for the object.




  • John hit him. (John and him are different people)

  • John hit himself. (John and himself are the same person)

  • John hit John. (must be two different people named John)



So, to sum up:




  • I hit him. (grammatical)

  • *I hit himself. (ungrammatical, because subj. and obj. aren't same entity)

  • *I hit me. (ungrammatical, because I and me are the same entity)



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