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"I had two spirits, who contantly attended me ... and several
spirits would call at my chamber door.... The two spirits that
constantly attended MYSELF appeared both in women's habit...."
[caps added for emphasis].
Yes, it has been around. At the risk of being flamed, "grammar" as
we know it today is based on "standard" London English, and the
construct came about in the 18th century, in an effort to "preserve"
a fast-changing language. The reflexive pronoun as used above is
perfectly in keeping with the history of our language. German uses
the reflexive in a very similar fashion, particularly with certain
verbs. It is, linguistically speaking, no more "incorrect" or
"wrong" than ending your sentence with a preposition (something that
occurs in our sister language German frequently, and is typically
used in English in a very similar fashion).
Before I get flamed, I will say that standard grammar is a good
thing, and we should all use it when writing, so that we have something common
across dialects, etc etc, and so forth.
That's my two cents for the day, so flame away.
Shelley Hatfield
hatfield -at- quadralay -dot- com
Quadralay Corporation
