Me, Myself, and I

If I had to choose one grammar faux pas that is the most ubiquitous, mixing up me, myself, and I would be a strong contender.

I’m not sure why English speakers mix up these 3 words so frequently, but I hope to set things straight.

Here’s how to use them properly.

I

Use I when you’re the subject in the sentence, the thing the sentence is about. If you’re the one doing the action of the sentence, use I.

I took the car to the store.

When using third person singular pronouns, you would write/say he/she here.

Me

Use me in just about every other case (see the next section for exceptions). In other words, if you’ve become something in the sentence that has an action performed to it, use me.

The car took me to the store.

When using third person singular pronouns, you would write/say him/her here.

Myself

Use myself when you are both the subject and object in the sentence.

I took myself to the store.

Quick quiz

Here are 6 questions. Each of them is written incorrectly. See if you can figure out the proper wording.

1. His wife and him just moved here from Vancouver.
2. Presenting at the conference were James, Sally, Bonnie, and myself.
3. Veronica gave chocolate cookies to George and I.
4. Jonny, Jane, and myself tripped on the same crack in the sidewalk.
5. Santa brought presents for she and me.
6. I went to the store with she and her husband.