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  • The Scope of The Self

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    Cosmina Beatrice
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    The document discusses the proper use of reflexive pronouns such as myself, yourself, himself, etc. It notes that these pronouns are often misused, such as in the phrase "Mr. Graham and myself are expecting you." Reflexive pronouns must refer back to the subject of the same clause, not a different one. The document analyzes an example from a New York Times article where "herself" was incorrectly used to refer back to "The wife" in a previous clause, rather than the subject of its own clause.

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    The Scope of the Self

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    The document discusses the proper use of reflexive pronouns such as myself, yourself, himself, etc. It notes that these pronouns are often misused, such as in the phrase "Mr. Graham and myself are expecting you." Reflexive pronouns must refer back to the subject of the same clause, not a different one. The document analyzes an example from a New York Times article where "herself" was incorrectly used to refer back to "The wife" in a previous clause, rather than the subject of its own clause.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    4 views1 page

    The Scope of The Self

    Uploaded by

    Cosmina Beatrice
    The document discusses the proper use of reflexive pronouns such as myself, yourself, himself, etc. It notes that these pronouns are often misused, such as in the phrase "Mr. Graham and myself are expecting you." Reflexive pronouns must refer back to the subject of the same clause, not a different one. The document analyzes an example from a New York Times article where "herself" was incorrectly used to refer back to "The wife" in a previous clause, rather than the subject of its own clause.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    Grammar

    The scope of the self


    Feb 26th 2013, 19:52 by R.L.G. | NEW YORK IT SEEMS many people don't know how to use the reflexive pronouns (those that end in -self and -selves). The overuse of -self (particularly myself) is the subject of some rightly guided annoyance out thereone blogger calls it typical of slightly pompous "Officespeak": "Mr. Graham and myself are expecting you in the meeting room by 3:30." Why myself when I or me is the way to go? Is myself more important, more dignified, more likely to survive the next round of layoffs? The reflexive pronouns need a subject to refer back to, and that subject must be expressly mentioned, not just implied. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and object of a clause are the same, whether the object is direct (I hate myself), indirect (Honey, I bought myself a motorcycle!) or the object of the preposition (I really learned a lot about myself on that cycling tour, namely that I hate cycling). It can't be used for an unnamed referent, even if the target of the reference is clear: Nobody will know about this but myself is wrong because myself isn't the same person as nobody. Judging by today's New York Times, though, -self is tricky enough to confuse practiced writers and editors. I, at least, would score this an error, in a lurid article about a New York policeman planning to torture, kill and eat his wife: The wife, Kathleen Mangan-Valle, said that when she later delved into her husbands electronic chat history, she found he had been communicating with others about plans to torture and kill women, including herself. It's obvious enough who herself is: the wife. But can that herself refer that far back to "The wife, Kathleen Mangan-Valle"? After all, it's in the same sentence. But it can't refer that far, because it's not in the same clause. Again, the -self pronoun must refer back to the subject of its own clause. In this case, though, the clause in question is "he had been communicating with others about plans to torture and kill women, including herself." You can't say Sally discovered that James was planning to kill herself. For the same reason, the longer sentence above is also wrong.

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