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If you declare yourself as a candidate for office, can that declaration be considered a nomination?

Or, is the verb nominate only applicable when it is applied to someone other than the nominator?

Self reference: I ask this in response to a discussion regarding the use of nominate in Stack Exchange elections, where all "nominations" are done by the candidates themselves.

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I nominate myself. I am the subject and the object of the verb. Just as you can nominate yourself in real life, you can say so in a sentence.

She nominated herself for class president.

She = subject & herself = object --> no worries :-)

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  • Actually, part of my question is whether you can in "real life". It was suggested that if you do that, it's some other verb, like "declare candidacy" but not nominate.
    – Nicole
    Feb 9, 2012 at 0:28
  • You can still say nominate. To nominate yourself as a candidate would be to put your name down as a candidate whereas to declare candidacy would be to announce that you will be a candidate. You can say nominate or declare candidacy since the latter implies that the candidate was nominated (as you would be in order to become a candidate). e.g. 'She announced her candidacy'. (Well we know that she's been nominated by either herself or someone else.) You can definitely use nominate but you can also describe effectively the same thing in other ways e.g., 'declare candidacy'.
    – Rachel
    Feb 9, 2012 at 4:02
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No. Not necessarily.

Conventionally, nominate is used both transitively as well as intransitively. One can nominate oneself.

It is not always necessary to go look for synonyms. However, there may be exceptions in certain contexts, in which case, they are that: exceptions.

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    What does transitivity have to do with the question? And when is nominate ever intransitive?
    – MetaEd
    Feb 1, 2012 at 15:58

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