These are formed by adding SELF or OWN to a Personal Pronoun.
1. I – myself (Singular)
2. We – ourselves (Plural)
3. One – oneself (Singular)
4. You – yourself & yourselves (both Singular and Plural)
5. He – himself (Singular)
6. She – herself (Singular)
7. It – itself (Singular)
8. They – themselves (Plural)
Example Sentences :
1. I punished myself.
2. He bought this book himself.
3. She ordered herself to come over to this event.
4. They faced themselves this problem.
5. They taught themselves playing piano.
6. Would you like to have yourself to another cup of tea?
7. He applied himself to the job of repairing the lights.
8. He busied himself in the playground.
9. We had to content ourselves with a few USD $.
One should not use this pronoun after verbs which describe things people usually do for themselves.
1. He washed [himself] his clothes.
2. He always shaved [himself] before going to a function.
3. They dressed [themselves] and went out to meet their parents.
The above sentences are wrong to mean. In place of them, we rewrite the sentences as follows.
1. He washed his own clothes.
2. He always got shaved off their beards before going to a function.
3. They got dressed and went out to meet their parents.
Uses of Reflexive Forms :
The Reflexive forms of Personal Pronouns are used for two purposes.
(a) to show that the person (or thing) does something to himself (or itself).
(b) to make the Pronouns more emphatic.
But we use personal pronouns. We do not use not reflexives after prepositions of place.
We have a big-box before [himself].
We have a big-box before him.
There are many friends with [themselves].
There are many friends with them.
In the latter case, they are sometimes called Emphasizing Pronouns.
Examples of Reflexive Pronouns :
1. I hid myself.
2. We hid ourselves.
3. I hit my own head.
4. We hit our own heads.
5. Thou lovest thine own home. [archaic]
6. You love your own home.
7. The cat seated itself.
8. The cats seated themselves.
Oneself is the reflexive of one as well as anyone.
Examples of Emphasizing Pronouns :
1. I myself saw the horse.
2. We ourselves saw it.
3. They themselves visited the party.
4. He himself applied to this course of study.
5. She herself posted this message in her FACEBOOK page.
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