“Were” or “Was”; “Myself” or “Me” and Library Resources

“Were”: In writing a sentence which pertains to being wishful, use “were”, not “was” in the phrase, “If I were going to become a good student, I would study a lot.”  The key is being wishful or having a possibility of.

“Was”: In writing a sentence which uses the past tense verb of “being”, write, “I was a good student because I studied a lot.” The key is being in the past.

“Myself”: Using the word “myself” in a sentence of this type is incorrect: “If you have any questions, get in touch with myself or the secretary.” 

“Me”: The sentence should be “If you have any questions, get in touch with me or the secretary.” 

What’s the key? Ask yourself how the sentence would be if you were the only one involved.  The resulting sentence is “If you have any questions, get in touch with me.” Simple!

When, then, should you use “myself”? Use it to give extra emphasis to your statement such as in this sentence, “I, myself, would rather study than get poor grades.”

Library Resources: If I were going to become better with my usage of these words, I, myself, would look in Discovery@Tarleton.edu and use some of the 903 resources!