Me or I or Myself

Me or I or Myself

I is used as the subject of a sentence while me is used as an object

E.g.

I worked in the kitchen for 2 hours.

Or, She gave the knitting needles to me.

These simple sentences are easy. The difficulty arises where there are two subjects.

E.g. Judy and me went to the market to buy some groceries. This is incorrect.

The correct one would be – Judy and I went to the market to buy some groceries.

Or, She passed on the popcorn to Judy and I. This is incorrect.

The correct one would be – She passed on the popcorn to Judy and me. The best way to see if you’re using the correct pronoun in these sentences is to remove ‘Judy’ and see what pronoun is left. That’s the correct one. Remember, the other person is always put before I or me.

For e.g. If you remove “Judy” from the sentence, it would be “Me went to the market” which is very obviously wrong.

The correct one is “I went to the market”.

Myself is a reflexive pronoun and cannot be used as a substitute for I or me.

e.g. You cannot say – Please give this to myself. The correct way would be – Please give this to me.

Or, I hit myself in my eye, accidentally.

Test your understanding - Choose the correct sentence from the pair of sentences given below
1.
a. They gifted myself a new bag for my birthday.
b. They gifted me a new bag for my birthday.

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2.
a. Mark, Mathew, John and me went to play football early in the morning
b. Mark, Mathew, John and I went to play football early in the morning.

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3.
a. I got me a new haircut and am looking younger.
b. I got myself a new haircut and am looking younger.

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4.
a. Ronnie and I decided not to watch the movie `Insidious’ yesterday.
b. Ronnie and me decided not to watch the movie `Insidious’ yesterday.

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5.
a. The policeman caught hold of myself as if I was the culprit.
b. The policeman caught hold of me as if I was the culprit.

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