This lesson will make you aware of two common pronoun mistakes. Try to eliminate these mistakes from your writing. Using pronouns correctly will give you more confidence as a writer. So here we go!
Common Mistake #1 – Using the reflexive pronoun myself when you should use the personal pronoun me.
Wrong: If you have any questions, speak to Mark or myself.
Have you ever heard someone say that? I hear it all the time. I think people use myself because it sounds more important than the little word me. However, as we have learned, myself is a reflexive pronoun. Only I can speak to myself. Never tell someone else to speak to myself.
Correct: If you have any questions, speak to Mark or me.
Common Mistake #2 – Getting confused when using a compound object pronoun
Wrong: If you have questions, speak to Mark or I.
We learned that I is a subject pronoun. Me is an object pronoun. I do something. Things happen to me. Take Mark out, and the sentence looks like this: If you have questions, speak to I. That doesn’t make sense. Things happen to me, so you should speak to me. Adding Mark into the sentence doesn’t change the fact that it is still happening to me.
Correct: If you have questions, speak to Mark or me.
If you want to improve your writing and speaking, remember these two tips. Then practice the correct form to avoid common pronoun mistakes.