Revision I
2022-11-06
2020-10-14
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – I – Me – Myself
การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ ที่ถือว่า ถูกต้อง ในที่นี้ เป็นไป ตามมาตรฐาน ของภาษา
การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่กำหนดมาตฐาน ถือตามส่วนใหญ่ที่ใช้แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจยืดหยุ่น ขึ้นอยู่กับ ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง I = ‘AHY’
ออกเสียง Me = ‘MEE’
ออกเสียง Myself = ‘mahy-SELF’
Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary:
I - Usage
In the old days when people studied traditional grammar,
we could simply say,
“The first person singular pronoun is “I”
when it’s a subject
and “me” when it’s an object,”
but now few people know what that means.
Let’s see if we can apply some common sense here.
The misuse of “I” and “myself” for “me”
is caused by nervousness about “me.”
Educated people know that
“Jim and me is goin’ down to slop the hogs,”
is not elegant speech, not “correct.”
It should be “Jim and I” because if I were slopping the hogs alone
I would never say “Me is going. . . .” So far so good.
But the notion that there is something wrong with “me”
leads people to overcorrect and avoid it
where it is perfectly appropriate.
People will say
“The document had to be signed by both Susan and I”
when the correct statement would be,
“The document had to be signed by both Susan and me.”
Trying even harder to avoid the lowly “me,”
many people will substitute “myself,”
as in
“The suspect uttered epithets at Officer O’ Leary and myself.”
“Myself” is no better than “I”as an object.
“Myself” is not a sort of all-purpose intensive form of “me” or “I.”
Use “myself” only when
you have used “I” earlier in the same sentence:
“I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself.”
“I kept half the loot for myself.”
All this confusion can easily be avoided
if you just remove the second party from the sentences
where you feel tempted to use “myself”
as an object or feel nervous about “me.”
You wouldn’t say, “The IRS sent the refund check to I,”
So, you shouldn’t say
“The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I” either.
And you shouldn’t say “to my wife and myself.”
The only correct way to say this is,
“The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and me.”
Still sounds too casual? Get over it.
On a related point,
those who continue to announce “It is I”
have traditional grammatical correctness on their side,
but they are vastly outnumbered by those who proudly boast “it’s me!”
There’s not much that can be done about this now.
Similarly, if a caller asks for Susan and Susan answers
“This is she,” her somewhat antiquated correctness
is likely to startle the questioner into confusion.
Dictionary.com:
ME
- GRAMMAR NOTES FOR ME
A traditional rule governing
the case of personal pronouns
after forms of the verb to be
is that
the nominative or subjective form (I; she; he; we; they)
must be chosen.
Some 400 years ago, owing to the feeling that
the post verb position in a sentence
is object rather than subject territory,
me and other objective pronouns (him; her; us; them)
began to replace the subjective forms after be,
so that It is I became It is me.
Today such constructions
— It's me. That's him. It must be them.
—are almost universal in speech,
the context in which they usually occur.
In formal speech or edited writing,
the subjective forms are used:
It was I who first noticed the problem.
My brother was the one who called our attention to the problem,
but it wasn't he who solved it. It had been she at the window, not her husband.
Me and other objective forms
have also replaced the subjective forms in speech
in constructions like
Me neither; Not us; Who, them?
and in comparisons after as or than:
She's no faster than him at getting the answers.
When the pronoun is the subject
of a verb that is expressed,
the nominative forms are used:
Neither did I.
She's no faster than he is at getting the answers.
See also than.
When a verb form ending in -ing functions as a noun,
it is traditionally called a gerund:
Walking is good exercise.
She enjoys reading biographies.
Usage guides have long insisted that
gerunds, being nouns, must be preceded by
the possessive form of the pronouns or nouns
(my; your; her; his; its; our; their; child's; author's)
rather than by the objective forms (me; you; him; her; it; us; them):
The landlord objected to my (not me) having guests late at night.
Several readers were delighted at the author's (not author)
taking a stand on the issue.
In standard practice, however,
both objective and possessive forms appear before gerunds.
Possessives are more common in formal edited writing,
but the occurrence of objective forms is increasing;
in informal writing and speech objective forms are more common:
Many objections have been raised to the government (or government's )
allowing lumbering in national parks.
“Does anyone object to me (or my) reading this report aloud?”
the moderator asked.
Dictionary.com:
Myself
USAGE NOTE FOR MYSELF
There is no disagreement
over the use of myself and other -self forms
when they are used intensively (I myself cannot agree)
or reflexively (He introduced himself proudly).
Questions are raised, however,
when the -self forms are used instead of the personal pronouns
(I, me, etc.) as subjects, objects, or complements.
Myself occurs only rarely as a single subject in place of I:
Myself was the one who called.
The recorded instances of such use are mainly poetic or literary.
It is also uncommon as a simple object in place of me :
Since the letter was addressed to myself, I opened it.
As part of a compound subject, object, or complement,
myself and to a lesser extent the other -self forms
are common in informal speech and personal writing,
somewhat less common in more formal speech and writing:
The manager and myself completed the arrangements.
Many came to welcome my husband and myself back to Washington.
Myself and other -self forms are also used,
alone or with other nouns or pronouns,
in constructions after as, than, or but
in all varieties of speech and writing:
The captain has far more experience than myself in such matters.
Orders have arrived for everyone but the orderlies and yourself.
There is ample precedent, going as far back as Chaucer
and running through the whole range of British and American literature and other serious formal writing, for all these uses.
Many usage guides, however,
state that to use myself in any construction
in which I or me could be used instead
(as My daughter and myself play the flute
instead of My daughter and I,
or a gift for my husband and myself
instead of for my husband and me)
is characteristic only of informal speech
and that such use ought not to occur in writing.
See also me.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
me or I? : Usage Guide
Pronoun
Me is used in many constructions
where strict grammarians prescribe I.
This usage is not so much ungrammatical
as indicative of the shrinking range of the nominative form:
me began to replace I sometime around the 16th century
largely because of the pressure of word order.
I is now chiefly used as the subject of an immediately following verb.
Me occurs in every other position:
absolutely who, me? emphatically me too,
and after prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs,
including be.
come with me you're as big as me it's me
Almost all usage books recognize the legitimacy
of me in these positions,
especially in speech;
some recommend I in formal and especially written contexts
after be and after as and than
when the first term of the comparison is the subject of a verb.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Using Myself in Place of I or Me: Usage Guide
Myself is often used where I or me might be expected:
as subject to wonder what myself will say
— Emily Dickinson
others and myself continued to press for the legislation ,
after as, than, or like
an aversion to paying such people as myself to tutor
was enough to make a better man than myself quail
old-timers like myself, and as object.
now here you see myself with the diver
for my wife and myself it was a happy time
Such uses almost always occur
when the speaker or writer is referring to himself or herself
as an object of discourse rather than as a participant in discourse.
The other reflexive personal pronouns
are similarly but less frequently used in the same circumstances.
Critics have frowned on these uses
since about the turn of the century,
probably unaware that they serve a definite purpose.
Users themselves are as unaware as the critics
—they simply follow their instincts. These uses are standard.
The A-Z of Correct English Common Errors in English Dictionary:
I/me/myself
These three words are pronouns
and cause a great deal of confusion.
(i) Most people use the pronoun ‘I’
correctly when it is used on its own:
I love cats.
I like chocolate.
I mow the lawn every Sunday.
I am trying to lose weight.
I have two sisters.
Confusion generally arises with
phrases like ‘my husband and I’ and
‘my husband and me’.
Which should it be?
The simplest method
is to break the sentence into two
and see whether ‘I’ or ‘me’ sound right:
My husband likes chocolate.
I like chocolate.
MY HUSBAND AND I like chocolate
(ii) Most people use the pronoun ‘me’
correctly when it is used on its own:
The burglar threatened ME.
It was given to ME.
Once again confusion arises when a pair is involved.
The advice remains the same.
Break the sentence into two and see whether ‘I’ or ‘me’ sounds right:
The burglar threatened my husband.
The burglar threatened ME.
The burglar threatened MY HUSBAND AND ME.
It was given to my husband.
It was given to ME.
It was given to MY HUSBAND AND ME.
(iii) The pronoun ‘myself’ has two distinct functions.
" It can be used in constructions like this
where it is essential to the sense:
I cut MYSELF yesterday.
I did it by MYSELF.
" It can be used to help emphasise a point.
In these cases, it can be omitted without changing the overall sense:
I’ll wrap the parcel MYSELF.
MYSELF, I would disagree.
‘Myself’ should never be used as a substitute for ‘I’ or ‘me’.
My friend and myself had a wonderful time in Austria.
My friend and I had a wonderful time.
They presented my brother and myself with a silver cup.
They presented my brother and me with a silver cup.
This is from Henry and myself.
This is from Henry and me,
