Tuesday, February 14, 2017

grammar - Serial is produced by ... and me



At the end of every episode of Serial, Sarah Koenig says:




Serial is produced by Julie Snyder, Dana Chivvis and me.





The word "me" sounds wrong to me there. Is it? If it's wrong, what is correct there - myself, I, or me but in a different location? And if it's not wrong - why not?


Answer



I'm quite certain that "me" is correct here, and in fact I have absolutely no problem reading or hearing it. Personally, I'm not sure why the confusion.



To use "myself" in this case would come across to me as someone trying to sound more formal or more "proper" and making a misstep in doing so.



Really, "myself" should only be used reflexively when the same person is both the subject and the object: "I washed myself" rather than "I washed me" but "I washed her" rather than "I washed herself".




In the case of your example, it is just a straightforward objective pronoun, and so "me" is correct. The inclusion of other people pushes "me" to the end of the list out of politeness, but has no other bearing at all.



(Note, "myself" can also be used as an intensifier, but it doesn't seem necessary to expand on that here.)


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