proper nouns - "I and John" vs. "John and myself" vs. "John and I" -- Which is the acceptable way to refer to myself and my friend?

I need to find out which one of these ways to refer to me and a friend in one sentence is correct?

1. 
   

   
   

   I and John...

   
   

   
   



2. 
   

   
   

   John and myself...

   
   

   
   


3. 
   

   
   

   John and I...

   
   

   
   

Answer

"I" is correct. The speaker is the subject of the sentence, the one performing the action, and so you use the subject version of the pronoun. You use "me" when the speaker is the object, the person being acted on. Like, "Bob asked me to go fishing."

Normally in English when there are several people mentioned in a sentence, one of whom is the speaker, you put yourself last. This is considered polite, like you're treating the other people as more important than you by putting them first. So you would say, "John and I decided ..." rather than "I and John decided ...". Likewise when you're the object, "Bob asked John and me to go fishing."

"Myself" is used to refer back to yourself if you've already mentioned yourself in a sentence. Like, "I gave the award for best fisherman to myself", as opposed to "I gave ... to me." It is also used to make clear or emphasize that you performed the action and not someone else. "I caught the fish myself" means I did it, not someone else, and I had no or minimal help.

"Myself" is also sometimes used as an alternate or polite form of "I" or "me". I think this is really grammatically incorrect, but it's fairly common. So "John and myself decided ..." would be acceptable, at least in informal speech.