Laws for the usage of me VS. myself?

Question

What are general guidelines when to use me and myself?

Did I describe me or did I describe Maria?

OR

Did I describe myself or did I describe Maria?

Answer 1

The two parts separated by or are complete, independent sentences. As such, the presence of the second half ("did I describe Maria") has no impact on the first half at all.

Thus, the question is, which of these two is correct:

1. Did I describe me?

2. Did I describe myself?

The answer is (2), because myself is the object of the sentence, and I is the subject. Outside of stylized usage, if the (grammatical) subject and object are the same entity, the reflexive must be used for the object.

• John hit him. (John and him are different people)
• John hit himself. (John and himself are the same person)
• John hit John. (must be two different people named John)

So, to sum up:

• I hit him. (grammatical)
• *I hit himself. (ungrammatical, because subj. and obj. aren't same entity)
• *I hit me. (ungrammatical, because I and me are the same entity)