Why 'Myself and my dad went there' is Grammatically Incorrect

Many English speakers struggle with the correct use of intensive pronouns, often misapplying words like 'myself,' 'himself,' 'herself,' 'yourself,' 'ourselves,' 'yourselves,' and 'themselves.' The core of the grammatical error lies in using these emphatic pronouns as subjects or objects of a verb, a role they are not designed to fill.

Intensive pronouns serve a specific purpose: to emphasize a noun or pronoun within a sentence. They typically appear immediately after the word they emphasize or sometimes at the end of a clause for added stress. For example, "I myself swept the floor" or "He must do the work himself" demonstrate their correct function. In these instances, the intensive pronoun can often be removed without altering the sentence's grammatical completeness, though its emphatic force is lost.

The misuse becomes apparent when these pronouns are substituted for standard subject or object pronouns. Sentences like "Myself and my sister ate rice" or "Himself and Tade have a meeting" are grammatically incorrect. The correct construction would use standard pronouns: "My sister and I ate rice" and "He and Tade have a meeting."

Similarly, using intensive pronouns in object positions is also a common mistake. Phrases such as "They are looking for my dad and myself" or "I saw Tade and himself" are incorrect. The proper way to phrase these would be "They are looking for my dad and me" and "I saw Tade and him."