What are reflexive pronouns?
Reflexive pronouns are used when the object is the same as the subject. For example, in the sentence "he hurt himself", he and himself refer to the same person.
Reflexive pronouns are also used for emphasis. In this case, they are referred to as intensive pronouns. For example, in the sentence "I spoke to the president himself", the speaker emphasizes that he spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.
"I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."
"He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him."In the above examples, the reflexive/intensive pronouns can be removed without changing the meaning.
List of reflexive pronouns
Subject Pronouns Reflexive Pronouns I myself you yourself he himself she herself it itself we ourselves you yourselves they themselves
Uses of reflexive pronouns
1. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object refer to the same thing:
2. Reflexive pronouns may be used as the object of a preposition:
- He blames himself for what happened.
- You might cut yourself.
- We will enjoy ourselves in the party.
- He made a cup of coffee for himself.
- He was talking to himself.
- She did the job by herself.
Every morning...I look at myself in the mirror.3. Reflexive pronouns are also used for emphasis. In this case they are called intensive pronouns. Intensive pronouns can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.
- I met the king himself.
- The president himself announced the news.
- He sent the letter himself
Review:
Personal pronouns | Possessive adjectives | Possessive pronouns | Reflexive pronouns | Object pronouns |
---|---|---|---|---|
I | my | mine | myself | me |
you | your | yours | yourself | you |
he | his | his | himself | him |
she | her | hers | herself | her |
it | its | its | itself | it |
we | our | ours | ourselves | us |
you | your | yours | yourselves | you |
they | their | theirs | themselves | them |
Grammar Exercise - Reflexive Pronouns
Find the right reflexive pronoun:
Personal Pronoun | Possessive Pronoun | |
---|---|---|
1. |
I
|
myself
|
2. |
you
|
yourself
|
3. |
he
|
himself
|
4. |
she
|
herself
|
5. |
it
|
itself
|
6. |
we
|
ourselves
|
7. |
you
|
yourselves
|
8. |
they
|
themselves
|
Choose the correct reflexive pronouns:
myself - yourself - himself - herself - itself - ourselves - yourselves - themselves |
---|
- Alan made this dish himself.
- Laura sent the email herself .
- We shall not quarrel easily among ourselves, and forget our common objective
- Sara, did you write this poem yourself ?
- I called her myself .
- He cut himself with the knife while he was sharpening it.
- My computer often crashes and turns off by itself .
- She often talks to herself when she is upset.
- John and Alan, I am not going to do the homework for you. You have to do it yourselves .
- The students were so noisy. Even Nancy and Leila were making a lot of noise themselves .
- Did the children behave themselves ?
- I caught sight of myself in the mirror.
Exercises: Reflexive Pronouns 2
Choose the correct reflexive pronouns:
myself - yourself - himself - herself - itself - ourselves - yourselves - themselves |
---|
- Don't worry! He can do it himself .
- Don't be so selfish! You think only about yourself.
- Please, John, make yourself feel at home.
- She hurt herself while doing the housework.
- I told him about the sad news myself.
- Good news! The horse came back home by itself.
- Did the two of you do this job by yourselves?
- Do we live for ourselves or for our loved ones?
- The children can look after themselves.
- Leila, please, help yourself to the cookies!
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