ESL text: "I notice similarities between myself and . . . ": Acceptable use of reflexive pronoun?

Question

In an ESL class, a student asked a difficult question about the use of “myself” in the following sentence: > I notice similarities between myself and other people more than > differences. (*Speak Out*, Upper Intermediate, p. 13, Exercise 11C, Pearson Longman, 2011) She said that she had been taught in Japan that it should “me” here. And, as a native speaker, I also feel it should be “me,” but then, I am not an ESL expert like the people at Pearson Longman. To me, the sentence seems to not be a case of an actual reflexive pronoun, such as “I see myself in the mirror,” but to border on hypercorrection such as “come have a drink with my husband and myself.” However, this structure, whether or not hypercorrection, does seem do have many users. Here are some Google hit numbers. > "similarities between me and" 45K > "similarities between myself and" 17K What explanation can I provide? Are both her previously learned rules and my native intuition incorrect? Or is something odd about the sentence from Pearson Longman? Or are all of these views correct?

Answer 1

Prepositional phrases have created issues in contemporary life. For instance, newscasters, TV personalities, public speakers in different athletic fields, and young adults have been using 'myself' publicly for years. Academically speaking, the use of myself is a type of slang when speaking and writing. The proper form of the reflexive pronoun should be in the context of "I notice more similarities than differences among or between other people and me." People mistakenly say Myself as the main noun...Example: Myself and him are great athletes. He and myself attend the program. You can always say myself but it is used as the object of the preposition or as a reflexive pronoun. Or, you might say, I like myself (which refers you back to 'I)'. Some say I, myself, prefer rock 'n roll music. (This myself renames the pronoun 'I'). This usage is okay. Just like in the Oxford English Dictionary vocabulary that changes over time, public usage of myself in these slang-type ways may well result in their incorrect usages being accepted as fine in future dictionaries, etc. The present use of myself in normal conversation and public venues as nouns sounds a little narcissistic and, in my opinion, focuses what is being said on the speaker and not the point being made. (Sorry, I'm an English major).