Study the information about reflexive pronouns.
Subject pronoun | Reflexive pronoun |
I | myself |
you | yourself |
he | himself |
she | herself |
it | itself |
one | oneself |
we | ourselves |
you | yourselves |
they | themselves |
1. 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.
2. We often use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same person or thing:
He cut himself with a knife.
3. We use a reflexive pronoun to make it clear who or what is being referred to.
We can use reflexive pronouns for emphasis:
The director of the company wrote to us himself to apologise for the terrible service. (or The director of the company himself wrote to us to apologise for the terrible service.)
4. 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.
5. Reflexive pronouns + by meaning alone, without help
We often use reflexive pronouns with by to mean ‘alone’.
Why don’t you buy it by yourself?
6. We sometimes use reflexive pronouns instead of personal pronouns for politeness, but not as the subject of a clause:
The National Fund is a charity depending on the support of people like yourself. (or … people like you.)
