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Misused Pronouns: Too Many Lead to Ranting

November 18, 2016 by Barbara McNichol 2 Comments

 by Barbara McNichol

Allow me to rant here.

After returning from recent visits to Colorado and Canada, I felt rejuvenated. But even among family and close friends, I still can’t take off my editor’s hat.

Which way to go?In many of our casual conversations, I bit my tongue when I heard misused pronouns such as “Him and I had lunch together” as “Me and her had a good time.”

Not wanting to take on human autocorrect duties (it leads to buzzkill, as you know), I prefer to provide examples of correct pronoun use here instead.

Correct Pronoun Examples

“I” – Subjective case (the subject of the sentence or phrase)

  • Lance and I (not me) are going to the conference in L.A.
  • My boss suggested Cindy and I (not me) help the new intern.

“Me” – Objective case (the object of the sentence or phrase)

  • The new director promoted me (not myself) to manager.
  • Our assistant invited William and me (not I) to her open house.

“Myself, her (him)/herself (himself), they/themselves ” – Reflexive case

  • I congratulated myself on getting the project completed early.
  • She helped herself to more supplies.
  • Darren asked himself, “Do I work late again tonight?”
  • They celebrated the award by themselves.

Notice these reflexive pronoun all have a related pronoun or noun preceding it in the sentence. Look for that distinction as a clue to knowing when (and when not) to use reflexive. After all, reflexive means reflecting back!

Please share your examples of misused pronouns here with the correct version, too.

Filed Under: Grammar Tips Tagged With: misused pronouns, nonfiction book editor, objective case, professional book editing, reflexive case, subjective case

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