Letter closing assistance (1 Viewer)

[Kirk Gunn]

What is the proper phraseology:

1) If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to contact myself or any of the committee members

2) If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to contact me or any of the committee members

Which do you prefer ?

Thanks !

 

[Scott_Sch]

I believe it should actually be..."If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to contact any of the committee members or me."

But I ain't no english major, so we should wait for some other validation here.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

When faced with these things, I usually decide by eliminating all excess and picking the right one:

Feel free to contact myself.

-OR-

Feel free to contact me.

Easy, no?

 

[Jay H]

I would go one step further and just end the letter with:

Shut Up

Jay

 

[Paul McElligott]

"If you have any further questions...that's tough."

Seriously, Scott seems to have the best answer.

 

[MichaelBA]

Me is the objective pronoun substituting for I.
Myself is the reflexive pronoun referring back to I.

Grammar gives me a headache. = me is the direct object

I myself get a headache from grammar. = myself reflexively refers back to I

I like Jeff's elimination technique.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Just so everyone knows, I add back all the excess after breaking the sentence down to the basics, so it would be:

"If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to contact me or any of the committee members" (or Scotts version, if you like).

 

[Malcolm R]

From one of the many online grammar resources:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/gramm....htm#reflexive

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Yeah, "'myself" in that context just doesn't look right.

 

[Ken Chan]

"Myself" implies ego on your part; don't use it.

"Me" or "I" usually goes second to imply lack of ego. But in this case, you're really saying "contact me", or if you're not available, anyone else on the committee, right? So you're first. It also reads better.

The "If" clause is kinda clumsy. Why else would they contact you? So you end up with:

Feel free to contact me or any of the committee members.

or if that reads too open-ended:

Feel free to contact me or any of the committee members about this.

or "about this matter".

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL

What about:
If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to contact Jay H.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Good points. My first draft was: If you have any questions, please put on your big girl panties and deal with it. Now go away....

I'll stick with "me" - thanks again.

 

[Jay H]

I hope the topic is about silica...

Jay

 

[andrew markworthy]

Um.. where's the 'please' in the final sentence? As it is the sentence sounds dismissive.

I'd suggest:

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact any committee member, including myself.

'Myself' in this case is grammatically correct, since 'me' might simply imply that the writer was a member of the committee.

I also assume that the recipient of the letter will be equipped with information about the names and addresses of other committee members? Otherwise it's bad form to refer someone to a group of people he or she does not know.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Good points Andrew. The phrases are a bit out of context since I did not include the complete letter. I felt there were plenty of "please this" and "please that" in the body that I didn't want to appear grovelling....

A listing of the committee members is actually included immediately beneath these phrases.

Thanks !

 

[MichaelBA]

It's not correct.

"Myself" is a reflexive pronoun, and as such the action of the verb which is taken by the subject of the sentence is reflected back to the same subject: e.g., "I bought myself a new car."

In "...please do not hesitate to contact any committee member, including myself" -- the agent of the action, the subject who is doing the contacting, is not identical with the object, is not the recipient of the action.

"Me" is correct, not "myself."

 

[Malcolm R]

"Myself" is never grammatically correct unless there is an "I" subject which "myself" can reflect to. From the website I linked earlier:

Whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct.

Why not simply say:

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me or any of the committee members.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

All yous guys is using them thar Americanized English rules.

I'll caste me lots wit Andrew and stick wit the goode olde Queen's English.

 

[MichaelBA]

But Jeff, your elimination technique renders Andrew's suggestion also incorrect.

"If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact any committee member, including myself."

"If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact myself."

Nope. It's me. Queen's English. Maybe not W. Bush's....

 

[Jeff Gatie]

***whispers*** Shhhh, I know. But we just gotta let them win one sometimes. Helps keep down the anti-Yank posts. ***whispers***