REFLEXIVE
PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns end in -self or
-selves. They refer back to the subject forms of personal pronouns
(underlined in the example below):
We didn’t
decorate it ourselves. Someone else did it for us.
Subject
Pronoun
|
Reflexive
Pronoun
|
I
|
Myself
|
You (Singular)
|
Yourself
|
He
|
Himself
|
She
|
Herself
|
It
|
Itself
|
One
|
Oneself
|
We
|
Ourselves
|
You (Plural)
|
Yourselves
|
They
|
Themselves
|
Reflexive pronouns for same subject and object
We often use reflexive
pronouns when the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same person
or thing:
He cut himself on the broken glass.
She made herself a cup of tea and sat down in front
of the television.
Parents often blame themselves for the way their children
behave.
We use a reflexive pronoun
to make it clear who or what is being referred to.
Compare
- Agnes looked at herself in the mirror.
|
- The subject and the object are the same.
|
- Agnes looked at her in the mirror.
|
- The
subject and the object are different. Agnes is looking at someone else in the
mirror.
|
Reflexive pronouns for emphasis
We can use reflexive
pronouns for emphasis:
The director of the company
wrote to us himself to apologise for the dreadful service. (or The director of the company himself wrote
to us to apologise for the dreadful service.)
We don’t use reflexive
pronouns on their own as the subject of a clause, but we can use them with a
noun or pronoun to emphasise the subject:
Parents and teachers always
pass on to children what they themselves have been told, and
this has been going on for hundreds, or even thousands of years.
Reflexive pronouns + by meaning alone
We often use reflexive
pronouns with by to mean ‘alone’ or ‘without any help’:
Why don’t you go by
yourself?
The children made the
entire meal by themselves.
Singular:
|
myself
- yourself - himself - herself - itself
|
Plural:
|
ourselves - yourselves
- themselves
|
The reflexive pronouns are:
We use a reflexive pronoun:
• As a direct object when
the object is
the same as
the subject of
the verb:
I am teaching myself to
play the piano.
Be careful with that knife. You might
cut yourself.
Example
Direct Object
I
hurt myself trying
to fix my father’s car.
You
sent yourself another
Valentine’s Day card, didn’t you?
Jack
introduced himself to
his girlfriend’s parents.
Mary
walked herself to
school for the first time last week.
The bug
found itself caught
in yet another screen enclosure.
One must
get oneself insured
if one intends to drive on city streets.
We
admonished ourselves for
not getting to the concert sooner.
You
blame yourselves for
the accident, but you had nothing to do with it.
The choir
practiced themselves to
the point of exhaustion.
Indirect Object
I
tried to stay away from that third piece of cake, but I just couldn’t
help myself.
You
should not do the repair to the air conditioning unit yourself.
Brian
offered to drive me to Boston himself but
I just couldn’t see putting him out like that.
Little
Sara tried to reach the bucket herself but
the shelf was way too high.
The
alligator ate the large bird and found itself feeling
quite full.
One
should always brush daily or risk finding oneself in
the dentist’s chair.
