How do you know when to use a reflexive pronoun in a sentence? And what is a reflexive pronoun anyway? They include pronouns such as myself, himself, herself, yourself, itself, ourselves, and themselves. They are never used as subjects in sentences, only as objects. For example, obviously you wouldn't say, "Myself baked some cookies." But sometimes a reflexive pronoun is incorrectly used in a sentence with a compound subject, as in "Kate and myself baked some cookies." The sentence should read, "Kate and I baked some cookies."
There is also confusion about how to properly use reflexive pronouns as sentence objects. As an example, some might say, "Call Kate or myself to order cookies." You can determine that this is wrong simply by leaving Kate out of the sentence. It is then evident that "Call myself to order cookies" is wrong, and it should read "Call Kate or me to order cookies."
According to Grammar Girl, "The reflexive pronoun is the right choice when the subject is mentioned again in the sentence. For example, you can use myself when you are both the subject and the object of a sentence: 'I see myself playing maracas' or 'I'm going to treat myself to a mud bath.' In both of these cases you are the object of your own action, so myself is the right word to use" (pp. 143-144).
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