A listener who noticed the reflexive pronoun myself cropping up where she herself would have expected to see me or I asked if the rule on this usage has changed and if using myself in place of me or I is now considered acceptable. No, the rule hasn't changed, and yes, using myself in place of me or I is sometimes acceptable. Here's the story.

William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson used myself as the sole subject in many a line of poetry ("Somehow myself survived the night," to quote Dickinson). Less poetic (but still reputable) writers like Thomas Jefferson and E.B. White saw no problem with making myself the object of a verb or predicate noun (Jefferson wrote "...it will find him here, as it will myself"). And such respectable writers as Jane Austen and James Joyce used myself and its reflexive kin after words like as, than, and like (Austen described Mr. Rushworth as "...more impatient for the marriage than herself").

So if literary figures have been using myself this way for more than 400, what is it that grammarians don't like about the practice? Criticism ranges from formal to informal, old-fashioned to unstylish. But critics have overlooked one important point: namely, that the widespread and persistent use of the word in professionally-edited English writing suggests that it serves an important function in the language. In our view, we shouldn't hesitate to use it when it sounds natural.