Wednesday, October 14, 2009

myself or me. themselves or them.

Is this sentence correct?

'He is more experienced than myself'

Reflexive pronouns, the ones that end with 'self' or 'selves', have just a few basic uses. First and most important, a reflexive works with another noun or pronoun in a sentence to "co-refer' to the same entity.

Consider: 'I see myself in a better job'

In this sentence, 'I' and 'myself' refer to the same person. They co-refer. Reflexives can be used for emphasis but if you're a little rusty here are some helpful guidelines: If it can be replaced by 'me', do not use 'myself'. If it can be replaced by 'you', do not use 'yourself'. If it can be replaced by 'him', do not use 'himself'.

It should thus be: "He is more experienced than me"

Source: Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande

Cheers,
Jelyn Ng Huimin

2 comments:

  1. oh this is good! clear my doubts of me, myself and I!

    Thanks,
    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very useful information shared, Jelyn! I have this problem too. (:

    Cheers,
    Dhamirah

    ReplyDelete