Pimp my English | Me, myself and I

By Anna Malczyk

It can often get confusing when you’re trying to refer to yourself and you’re not sure if you should be saying “I”, “me” or “myself”. Here’s a quick and simple guide to using each one correctly.

First, it’s important to revise the parts of a sentence. The subject is the person doing the action, the verb is the action itself, and the object is the thing that the action happens to.

Kate watered the garden.
Kate (subject: the person acting) watered (verb: the action) the garden (object: the thing being acted on).

Pronouns
“I”, “me” and “myself” are all pronouns – meaning that they are words that can stand in for a noun. For example:

John helped Mary carry the sofa.
He helped her carry it.

I
“I” is a pronoun that can only be used as the subject of the sentence. The subject is the person who performs the action. “I” is never used as an object. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever find it anywhere other than at the start of the sentence.

I like reading mystery novels.
I am a good tennis player.

Me
“Me” is always used as an object, and never as a subject. It is always the person being acted on, not the person acting. “Me” will never be found at the beginning of the sentence.

Steve helped me with my homework.
Could you do a favour for me?

Myself
“Myself” is a reflexive pronoun. It is an object (like “me”). “Myself” can only be used if the subject of the sentence is “I” (in other words, if the subject and object are the same person).

I helped myself to a cookie.
I’m making myself a cup of tea.

Quick tricks
The subtraction rule: If you’re not sure whether to use “Jack and me” or “Jack and I”, try removing the other person to see if the sentence still makes sense.

They went to the park with Jack and I/me.
They went to the park with I. [Incorrect]
They went to the park with me. [Correct]

The replacement rule: You can also try replacing “Jack and I/me” with either “us” or “we”. If “us” works, use “me”. If “we” works, use “I”.

They went to the park with Jack and I/me.
They went to the park with we. [Incorrect]
They went to the park with us. [Correct – therefore use “me”]

In a nutshell:
Use “I” as the subject (the person doing something).
Use “me” as the object (the person having the action done to them)
Use “myself” as the object only if the subject is “I”.

Of course, the same rule applies to all people, not just “me”. Here’s a reference table of all three types of pronouns: