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Me Myself or I?

[From Judy Vorfield]

Me, Myself, or I?
Have you ever wondered if you should say, "Jason and myself..." or "Jason and I..."? Wonder no more! I have the answer.
"Myself" is a reflexive pronoun, a personal pronoun that relates (think "reflect") the action of the verb back to the subject. Examples: I drove the car myself. (I-myself.) He drove by himself (he-himself). They went by themselves (they-themselves).
CLUE: When using "myself," make sure there is an "I" earlier in the sentence.Example 1.INCORRECT: Nancy will travel with Todd and myself.EXPLANATION: Let's remove "Todd and" from the sentence. Nancy will not travel with myself. "Myself" must be a reflection of "I," and there's no "I" in the sentence.CORRECT: Nancy will travel with Todd and me.
Example 2.INCORRECT: Mother and myself will go to the store.EXPLANATION: Let's remove "Mother and." Would you say, "Myself will go to the store"?CORRECT: Mother and I will go to the store.
Reflexive pronouns like "myself" can't be the subject of a sentence. They're generally used to emphasize something. "I'll do it" isn't as strong as "I'll do it myself." Sometimes reflexive pronouns are called "self"ish pronouns.
Additional Resources:
* Reflexive Pronouns* Professor Paul Brians: I/Me/Myself* The Tongue Untied

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Eduspeak

[From THIS is TRUE www.thisistrue.com]

EDUSPEAK: Forget "compare and contrast"; schoolchildren now learn "text-to-text connections". They don't go to "home room" but rather "Achievement Time" or, in some schools, "Time to Care". The temporary classroom is now a "learning cottage" rather than a "trailer". Even the humble essay is gone, replaced by the "extended constructed response".
"If teachers want to talk in those terms among themselves, they're welcome to," says Vocabulary Review publisher Hartwell Fiske. "But introducing children to them is criminal, dehumanizing." Students agree. "It's like renaming a prison 'The Happy Fun Place'," complains a Maryland senior. "Tests should be called tests. 'Brief constructed response'; you just wonder why they don't say 'paragraph'." (Washington Post) ...It's nice that kids still get to learn about George Orwell.

One Millionth word

English has now acquired its millionth word, according to a website monitoring the extraordinary emergence of new English throughout the world, including slang, word-marriages with other languages and the thousands of new terms spawned by the internet.
The spread of English in the 20th century was remarkable enough: in the first decade of the 21st century, however, it has evolved and expanded more rapidly, and more strangely, than any language in history. Jai Ho!
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Public Speaking – The Power of Words

Words hurt, heal, motivate, and aggravate. They are powerful. They control emotions and can even control a person physically.     more ...

Thought for the day

Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.

-Khalil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist

Tautology too

Kerry Webb writing in Incite in October 2004 listed this wonderful website: If you get annoyed with people who delight in using tautologies (or even those who have not got a clue what they are talking about) have a look at the absolutely essential site at "www.wordexplorations.com/pleonasm.html"

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Public Speaking: The Power Of Words

Words hurt, heal, motivate, and aggravate. They are powerful. They control emotions and can even control a person physically.
(...more)

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use words

"We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the situation."

Florence Scovel Shinn

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The World of Words

This is my kind of site!!

Showcasing the best of the worst in the wide world of words

Wordsplosion

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J.K. Rowling commencement address

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling delivered a commencement address at Harvard University. Click here to read her speech in its entirety, and to listen to an audio recording.