2022-11-07
2020-10-14
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – I – Me – Myself (Extension)
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Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Usage Notes
'It is I' or 'It is Me'?
The Queen, the Predicate Nominative, and Me, er, I
Pretend with us, if you will:
You're calling a queen.
You two are chummy,
and you have the number that goes directly to the telephone
located on the table next to the armchair
in which she is sitting and awaiting your call.
She answers and says, "Hello?"
You say: "May I speak to the Queen, please?"
She replies, "This is ___."
And there we will stop: what does she say?
She might choose to answer with her title:
"This is the Queen."
Or she could go the pronoun route.
Being queen and all, that might mean going full royal:
"This is We."
Or would it be "This is Us"?
(We're assuming the caps, but that's really up to her.)
But what if she prefers a plebeian (and lowercase) pronoun?
Would her answer be "This is she"? Or "This is her"?
It all depends on how she regards that little verb is.
Such a common verb, but even queens
(English-speaking ones, anyway) have to use it.
Its infinitive form is be,
but it of course has other forms too:
am, are, was, were, being, been.
Be is the most common of the linking verbs
(also called copulas or copulative verbs).
A linking verb is a kind of verb that,
instead of expressing some kind of action as verbs
like "run" and "digress" do,
connects a subject with an adjective (or adjective phrase)
or noun (or noun phrase) that describes or identifies that subject.
For example, in
"The Queen is waiting for my call,"
the linking verb is connects the subject (the Queen)
with a phrase that describes the subject in her anticipatory state.
For a long time,
grammarian-types asserted that
when you've got a subject that is followed by a linking verb,
the thing that comes after the linking verb
(the adjective or noun) should be in the nominative case
—that is, in the form that is used in the subject position.
We can think of the assertion like this:
a linking verb is akin to an equals sign.
Just as we would say "She is the Queen,"
we must also say "The Queen is she."
There's a fancy grammatical term for this:
predicate nominative.
It refers specifically to the adjective
(or adjective phrase) or noun (or noun phrase)
that follows a linking verb to complete its meaning
and is required to be in the nominative case.
Most of the time
we don't have to think about
whether what follows a linking verb is in the nominative case
or the objective case (the form used in the object position).
In "The Queen is very funny"
and "The Queen is an excellent conversationalist"
the adjective and noun phrases following the linking verb
have the same form whether they're in the nominative or the objective.
But when we want to use a pronoun after the linking verb,
we must make a choice.
If the predicate nominative holds,
the Queen will say "This is she"
(or "This is We,"
if she's going with the vaunted pronoun
that sovereigns sometimes employ).
This is connected via the linking verb
is to the pronoun that identifies the speaker in the nominative case.
If the Queen answers instead
"This is her,"
she is denying the predicate nominative
and treating the pronoun that is connected via the linking verb
is as though it were coming after a regular old verb
such as like, as in "I like her."
And what about the rest of us?
Should we deny the predicate nominative, or embrace it?
The answer is, we assure you, purely a matter of style.
While there was some heated debate
about the matter in the 18th century
—mostly a single it is me defender was quickly outnumbered
by some influential it is I people
—by the early part of the 20th century
the majority of those who make recommendations
about such things were acknowledging that it is me is perfectly fine,
especially in informal use.
Both forms have existed for centuries,
with it is me tending to appear in more relaxed contexts even long ago.
Which means you—and the Queen
—can choose whichever you prefer whenever you like.
The predicate nominative of course
comes into play with other pronouns as well,
and when it does it often sounds particularly well-suited
for the regal among us:
"If I were he …";
"I heard a knock—it might be they …";
"hoping it was she …"
Without the predicate nominative we have
"If I were him …";
"it might be them …";
"hoping it was her …"
Again, the choice is up to you.
As for us, we reserve the right to save the former exclusively
for our confabs with the Queen.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Usage Notes
'Between You and I'
Don't let this phrase stand between you and clear writing
Do you say “between you and me” or do you say “between you and I”?
If it is the latter, have you noticed people giving you funny looks,
moving away from you on the bus,
or threatening to physically harm you?
Because there are people out there who take grave exception
to this particular turn of phrase,
and they are very angry when they hear it.
What is it about “between you and I” that engenders such ire?
The short answer is that
the speaker is using the subjective pronoun I after a preposition,
rather than the objective me,
and modern English grammar dictates that
pronouns that follow a preposition
such as between should be objective ones
(me, you, us, him/her, it, them).
The longer answer?
Some people have suggested that the reason “between you and I” bothers so many people is that
it is a hypercorrection
(a grammatical error made through the attempt
to avoid a different grammatical error,
or an error made in an attempt to sound more educated),
and hypercorrections tend to make people excessively wroth.
This theory is largely based on the notion that
people were spooked by being told that
they should say “it is I,” rather than “it is me,”
and so overcompensated by salting their language overmuch
with the subjective I.
Other commentators on language have opined that
some people use I instead of me because
it has a more pleasant sound to it.
Perhaps the most famous
(mis)use of “between you and I”
occurs in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice,
in which Antonio informs Bassanio in a letter that
“all debts are cleared between you and I.”
Shakespeare was but one of many writers of yore
who employed the subjective rather than the objective case
in this prepositional phrase.
An 1878 issue of the journal Notes and Queries stated that
“Between you and I is as thick and plentiful as the autumnal leaves
that strow the brooks in Vallambrosa,"
and offered the following examples (among many others).
Between you and I, I think him as odd … a fellow as you can do.
—Henry Fielding, The Virgin Unmasked, 1791
Whimsical … and, between you and I, none of the mildest of her sex.
—David Garrick, The Lying Valet, 1741
Then the music—so softly the cadences die,
So divinely, O Dolly, between you and I,
It’s as well for my peace that there’s nobody nigh.
—Thomas Moore, The Fudge Family in Paris, 1818
“Between you and I” was not only used by British authors;
it may be found in the writing of
numerous American men and women of letters
in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Benjamin Franklin used it occasionally in his correspondence
(although. he wrote “between you and me” more frequently).
Indeed, I had not the least Idea of any Agreement between you and I,
either express’d or imply’d as you say, in any of its Articles….
—Benjamin Franklin, letter to David Hall, 14 Apr., 1767
Between you and I, the late Measures have been,
I suspect, very much the King’s own,
and he has in some Cases a great Share of what his Friends call Firmness.
—Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Franklin, 14 Jul., 1773
There is no doubt that “between you and I”
violates traditional rules of grammar.
If one were to substitute a different subjective pronoun after between
(“this is a matter between they”)
it would sound quite jarring to most of us.
But there is also no doubt that our language
will occasionally assimilate incorrect usage,
and over the course of time, come to accept it,
if only begrudgingly and slowly.
An example of this may be found
in the aforementioned phrase
“it is me,” which was widely censured in the 19th century,
and now bothers far fewer people than it used to.
An early 20th century edition of Merriam-Webster’s
New Unabridged Dictionary wrote of “it is me”
that is “violates the grammatical rule of construction
which calls for a predicate nominative after is;
and it is now chiefly colloquial or dialect,
but is justified by some good writers
as being historically idiomatic.”
Although using “it is me” instead of “it is I”
may still bother some people,
many usage guides now accept this
as correct, especially in informal settings.
This is not yet the case with “between you and I.”
Most current usage guides
(as well as many angry people on Twitter)
are of the opinion that this usage
diminishes the appearance of the user.
Our own usage guide takes a somewhat more accepting position:
You are probably safe in retaining
between you and I in your casual speech,
if it exists there naturally,
and you would be true to life in placing it
in the mouths of fictional characters.
But you had better avoid it in essays
and other works of a discursive nature.
It seems to have no place in modern edited prose.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1994
In the event that you wish to know why
You shouldn’t say it’s “between you and I,”
When this case is subjective
Instead of objective
You are making grammarians cry
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:
Our Living Language Speakers
of vernacular varieties of English,
especially in the South,
will commonly utter sentences like
I bought me some new clothes or
She got her a good job,
in which the objective form of the pronoun (me, her)
rather than the reflexive pronoun (myself, herself)
is used to refer back to the subject of the sentence (I, She).
However, the reflexive pronoun of Standard English
cannot always be replaced by the vernacular objective pronoun.
For example,
Jane baked her and John some cookies doesn't mean
"Jane baked herself and John some cookies."
In this sentence,
her must refer to someone other than Jane,
just as it does in Standard English.
In addition,
forms like me and her cannot be used
in place of myself or herself
unless the noun in the phrase
following the pronoun is preceded by a modifier
such as some, a, or a bunch of.
Thus, sentences such as
I cooked me some dinner and
We bought us a bunch of candy are commonplace;
sentences such as I cooked me dinner and
We bought us candy do not occur at all.
Sometimes objective pronouns
can occur where reflexive pronouns cannot.
For example,
one might hear in vernacular speech
I'm gonna write me a letter to the president;
nobody, no matter what variety he or she speaks,
would say I'm gonna write myself a letter to the president.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Usage Notes
Putting 'Myself' Where 'Me' or 'I' Usually Goes
It's just me, myself, and I—unless it's just 'myself'
es as these:
I'm excited to announce that Noah and myself are opening a bakery.
My mother has told Noah and myself that we make very good cakes.
If you'd like us to make you a cake, please talk to Noah or myself.
In these instances, myself is inhabiting space
we more often see occupied by I or me.
In the first example
"Noah and myself" is the subject of the verb;
"Noah and I" is the more common choice.
In the second example
"Noah or myself" is the object of the preposition to;
"Noah or me" is the more common choice.
And in the third example
"Noah and myself" is the object of the verb;
"Noah and me" is the more common choice.
Myself in these settings has been objected to
since the late 19th century,
though critics have never been able
to put their collective finger on
what's so bad about it.
It's been called snobbish,
unstylish, self-indulgent,
self-conscious, old-fashioned,
timorous, colloquial, informal, formal,
nonstandard, incorrect, mistaken, literary,
and unacceptable in formal written English.
We find the usages, however,
to be widespread even in literary sources
dating back at least four centuries.
While we no longer use myself alone
as the subject of a verb,
Shakespeare and Ben Jonson
thought it was fine, as did Emily Dickinson:
Today, though, when people use myself
in the position of subject-of-the-verb these days,
it's typically part of a compound subject:
… Conan Doyle was the kind of Edwardian man of letters for whom certain retro bookmen such as myself and Mr. Dirda retain especial affection.
— Larry McMurtry, Harper's, November 2011
This has been true for some time:
Both Williams, and Desmoulins, and myself are very sickly …
— Samuel Johnson, letter, 2 Mar. 1782
From the moment Mrs. Washington and myself adopted the two youngest children …
— George Washington, letter, 20 Sept. 1799
... the Post, & not yourself, must have been unpunctual.
— Jane Austen, letter, 1 Nov. 1800
In our files we also have plenty of 20th century examples from such competent users of English as T. S. Eliot, Harry Truman, E. M. Forster, and W. H. Auden, and the use continues in the current century as well:
One of the members of the Senate committee—and I—my group and myself have been working with both committees in the House and the Senate and their staffs.
— Brigadier General David McGinnis, speaking on PBS News Hour, 21 May 2014
The use of myself as the object of a verb and as a predicate noun, as in the example "My mother has told Noah and myself that we make very good cakes," is likewise long-established:
... appointed Mr. Francis, then attorney-general and myself to draw up constitutions for the government of the academy.
— Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1788
... it will find him here, as it will myself.
—Thomas Jefferson, letter, 27 Feb. 1809
Our files have examples from the words of E. B. White, Flann O'Brien, Frank O'Connor, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., too. And it continues to be used:
We'd rented a house on the beach…. The "we" included the writer Ann Beattie; her husband, Lincoln Perry; and myself.
— David Wiegand, The San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Mar. 2016
The reflexive pronoun seems particularly popular after words whose status as preposition or conjunction is a matter of some dispute, words like as, than, and like:
... an eager lover like myself.
—William Wycherly, The Country Wife, 1675
... no one would feel more gratified by the chance of obtaining his observations on a work than myself …
— Lord Byron, letter, 23 Aug. 1811
... to see a man, who ... in the dusk looked for all the world like myself.
— Robert Frost, letter, 10 Feb. 1912
... as to which I felt no one to be trusted but myself.
— Henry James, The Art of the Novel, 1934
They are no doubt people that you know—your acquaintances and neighbors. People, I'll admit, like myself.
— Alan Feuer, The New York Times, 26 Jan. 2013
But it is also historically and currently found as the object of ordinary prepositions:
The pheasant I gave to Mr. Richardson, the bustard to Dr. Lawrence,
and the pot I placed with Miss Williams, to be eaten by myself.
— Samuel Johnson, letter, 9 Jan. 1758
So much for my patient—now for myself …
—Jane Austen, letter, 17 Nov. 1798
... it will require the combined efforts of Maggie, Providence, and myself.
— Emily Dickinson, letter, April 1873
There are also two captions for Hokinson,
one by myself and one by my secretary.
— James Thurber, letter, 20 Aug. 1948
Indeed I hope that you will have time,
amongst your numerous engagements,
to have a meal with my wife and myself.
— T. S. Eliot, letter, 7 May 1957
What we see after all this is that myself gets used
where we expect to see me or I in the spoken or written words
of poets, politicians, playwrights, novelists, essayists,
and even lexicographers.
It is not new and it is not rare.
It's true that many of the examples
are from speech and personal letters,
suggesting familiarity and informality.
But the practice is by no means limited to informal contexts.
Only the use of myself as sole subject of a sentence
seems to be restricted;
all our examples of that particular use are from older poetry.
But what's going on here anyway?
Why do we see a reflexive pronoun
in places where other pronouns belong?
Well, there are two theories, both of which are a bit technical.
The first has to do with syntax.
When we look at languages as systems
we see that there are "rules" that languages follow.
These aren't rules that are imposed on a language;
they're rules that describe how the language functions.
In English, verbs and prepositions are said
to govern the nouns that are their complements
—that is, in very simple terms,
they determine the form taken by the nouns (or pronouns)
that complete their meaning.
For example,
the preposition for requires them
rather than they in a sentence like "The cake is for them."
Linguist Noam Chomsky has suggested
that compounds like "Noah and myself"
block the assignment of case
(which determines the form required) by verbs and prepositions;
this makes it possible for a pronoun
in the compound to be other than it would be alone.
In "talk to me," to governs the pronoun and requires me;
but in "talk to Noah and __,"
the preposition to is blocked from its usual governing duties
and the result is a variety of grammatical options:
"talk to Noah and me,"
"talk to Noah and I," and
"talk to Noah and myself."
The second theory involves a linguistic study
called discourse analysis.
As the examples
we've shown demonstrate,
almost all the instances of myself above
occur in contexts where the speaker or writer
is referring to himself or herself or to the listener
or the reader as a subject of the discourse,
rather than as a participant in it.
According to discourse analysis
this is the way that English ordinarily works.
Discourse analysis
doesn't explain third person reflexives very well,
but, in spite of what the critics may think,
this use of the first (and second person) reflexives
is a common and standard,
though not mandatory, feature of the language.
All this being said,
it's still of course true that sometimes
myself appears where me or I is usual
because a writer or speaker thinks
it simply sounds more sophisticated or "correct."
There may also be an uneasiness with me generally
for people who took to heart lessons that taught
"my friend and I will be there" as preferable to
"my friend and me will be there,"
without fully recognizing that
"they saw my friend and me there" is also preferred.
It may also be that some people think that
myself is somehow gentler or more refined
than the direct me or I;
in its similarity to yourself, himself, and herself
it perhaps suggests a parity between oneself and others.
Whatever the reasons for using myself
in instances like those discussed,
people who choose to employ it are in good company.
There's no reason it shouldn't continue
to hum along in the language for another few hundred years.
Random House Kernneman Webster's College Dictionary:
ME
usage: The traditional rule is that
personal pronouns after the verb to be
take the nominative case (I; she; he; we; they).
Some 400 years ago,
me and other objective pronouns (him; her; us; them)
began to replace the subjective forms after be.
Today, such constructions
- It's me.
That's him.
It must be them
- are almost universal in informal speech.
In formal speech and in edited writing, however,
the subjective forms are used:
It must be they.
The figure at the window had been she, not her husband.
The objective forms have also replaced the subjective forms
in speech in such constructions as Me neither.
Who, them?
and frequently in comparisons after as or than:
She's no faster than him at climbing.
Another traditional rule is that gerunds,
being verb forms functioning as nouns,
must be preceded by the possessive pronoun
(my; your; her; its; their; etc.):
The landlord objected to my (not me) having a dog.
In practice, however,
both objective and possessive forms appear before gerunds,
the possessive being more common in formal, edited writing,
the objective more common in informal writing and speech.
See also than.
Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollin:1. 'me'
Me can be the object of a verb or preposition.
You use me to refer to yourself.
Sara told me about her new job.
He looked at me curiously.
Be Careful!
In standard English, 'me' is not used
as the indirect object of a sentence when 'I' is the subject.
Don't say, for example, 'I got me a drink'.
Say 'I got myself a drink'.
I poured myself a cup of tea.
I had set myself a time limit of two hours.
In conversation, people sometimes use me
as part of the subject of a sentence.
Me and my dad argue a lot.
Me and Marcus are leaving.
Be Careful!
Don't use 'me' as part of the subject of a sentence
in formal or written English.
Use I.
My sister and I were very disappointed with the service.
Brad and I got engaged last year.
2. 'it's me'
If you are asked 'Who is it?',
you can say 'It's me', or just 'Me'.
'Who is it?' – 'It's me, Frank.'
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:
Myself
Usage Note:
The -self pronouns, such as myself, yourselves, and herself, are sometimes used as
emphatic substitutes for personal pronouns,
as in He was an enthusiastic fisherman like myself.
The practice is particularly common in compound phrases:
The boss asked John and myself to give a brief presentation.
Although these usages have been common
in the writing of reputable authors for several centuries,
they may not sit well with many readers today.
A majority of the Usage Panel dislikes them,
though resistance has been eroding over the years.
In our 1993 survey, 73 percent disapproved of
the fisherman example quoted above.
In 2009, only 55 percent disapproved of the same sentence.
The Panel still finds the use of -self pronouns
in compound constructions even less appealing,
but here too the percentages have fallen over the years.
In 1993,
the John and myself example was rejected by 88 percent of the Panel.
In 2009, 68 percent rejected the same sentence.
Random House Kernneman Webster's College Dictionary:
Myself
usage: Questions are raised with
certain uses of myself and other -self forms
in place of the personal pronouns (I, me, you, etc.).
myself as a single subject
(Myself shall be the messenger) is mainly poetic or literary.
As a simple nonreflexive object,
the -self form is not uncommon in speech:
Since the letter was addressed to myself, I opened it.
Packages had come for everyone but themselves.
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:
Many friends welcomed my husband and myself back home.
Smith, Murray, and myself are the three candidates.
Such forms are similarly used after as or than
in all varieties of speech and writing:
No contributors have been more generous than yourselves.
These uses of the -self forms are characteristic of
informal speech and writing
and are often considered erroneous
in more formal or careful contexts.
