I feel moved to share my greatest pet peeve and the thing that bothers me most - other than fingernails on a chalk board. It's the word "myself". Don't get me wrong - it isn't the word itself, or the even the combination of letters that is so vexing. Rather, it seems so often that people misuse the word, but what really makes this interesting is that it is almost always misused because the user thinks it make him or her sound more intelligent...it doesn't.
Myself is a reflexive noun, which means that it must be reflecting on I or me. Therefore, any use of the word myself without being prefaced by I or me, is incorrect. For example:
"I, myself, am a grammatical freak." or "I went to the store by myself." or "You want me to do that myself?"
I and me are considered antecedents to the reflexive noun in the examples above, but now consider the following statements:
"Group A is comprised of Steven, Ryan, and myself." or "If you have questions you can talk to Holly or myself." or if someone asks who is running project B and said leader responds, "myself."
You see, there is no antecedent and hence we find myself misused as it is so often. So for anyone you know that refers to himself or herself as myself - let them know that they don't sound smart - at least not if the person he or she is talking to knows grammar.
More Pet Peeves to come...and some class thoughts too...
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