| Reflexive Pronouns
myself, yourself, himself... Reflexive Pronouns - 1 Type the correct word in the boxes below. myself yourself himself herself itself yourselves ourselves themselves |
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1. The cat nearly killed ______ when it ran across the road. itself 2. I enjoyed ______ at the party. myself 3. He always looks at ______ in the mirror. himself 4. We helped ______ to the coffee. ourselves 5. The woman accidentally hurt ______ with the knife. herself 6. The children enjoyed ______ at the beach. themselves 7. The two of you shouldn't do that. You'll hurt ______. yourselves 8. He paid for ______. himself 9. Some people only think about ______. themselves 10. She didn't tell him. I told him ______. myself |
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1. I went to the supermarket by ______. myself 2. Harry lives by ______. himself 3. Anna had dinner at the restaurant by ______. herself 4. You shouldn't go there by ______. yourselves 5. We will build the house by ______. ourselves 6. The dog came home by ______. itself 7. They went on a holiday by ______. themselves 8. I don't like eating by ______. myself 9. She cooked the dinner all by ______. herself 10. Did the two of you do this by ______? yourselves Reflexive Pronouns You can use a reflexive pronoun to refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence. The reflexive pronouns are "myself," "yourself," "herself," "himself," "itself," "ourselves," "yourselves," and "themselves." Note each of these can also act as an intensive pronoun. Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a reflexive pronoun: Richard usually remembered to send a copy of his e-mail to himself. Reflexive pronouns, self-pronouns - Exercise Choose the correct reflexive pronouns from the dropdown menu. myself - yourself - himself - herself - itself - ourselves - yourselves - themselves 1) Robert made this T-shirt __________. Robert made this T-shirt himself. 2) Lisa did the homework __________. Lisa did the homework herself. 3) We helped __________ to some cola at the party. We helped ourselves to some cola at the party. 4) Emma, did you take the photo all by __________? Emma, did you take the photo all by yourself? 5) I wrote this poem __________. I wrote this poem myself. 6) He cut __________ with the knife while he was doing the dishes. He cut himself with the knife while he was doing the dishes. 7) The lion can defend __________. The lion can defend itself. 8) My mother often talks to __________. My mother often talks to herself. 9) Tim and Gerry, if you want more milk, help __________. Tim and Gerry, if you want more milk, help yourselves. 10) Alice and Doris collected the stickers __________. Alice and Doris collected the stickers themselves. Reflexive PronounsThe reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct. Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.
When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person
or, when there is no first person, the second person:
The indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the other indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire page on the pronoun one.) It is probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.
Intensive PronounsThe intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I don't believe a word he says.) |