G roup 3

L ouis anak E lo(L eader)

Firlland A lvie A li

R E FL E X IV E PR O NO UNS

R eflex ive P ron ou n

A r e f l e x i v e x i v e p r o n o u n is a s p e c i a l k i n d o f p r o n o u n . I t i s u s u a l ly u s e d w h e n t h e o b j e c t o f a s e n t e n c e i s t h e s a m e a s t h e s u b j e c t , a s y o u w i l l s e e b e l o w . E a c h p e r s o n a l p r o n o u n ( s u c h a s I , you , a n d she ) h a s it s o w n r e f l e x i v e f o r m . T h i s i n t r o d u c t i o n w il l e x p l a i n w h a t t h e d if f e r e n t f o r m s o f r e f l e x i v e p r o n o u n s a r e , a n d w h e n t h e y a r e u s e d .

W e u s e t h e r e f l e x i v e p r o n o u n s t o in d i c a t e t h a t t h e p e r s o n w h o r e a l i z e s t h e a c t i o n o f t h e v e r b i s t h e s a m e p e r s o n w h o r e c e i v e s t h e a c t i o n . R e f l e x i v e p r o n o u n s a r e i d e n t i c a l in f o r m t o i n t e n s iv e p r o n o u n s .

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Personal Pronoun Reflexive pronouns

I myself

You (singular) yourself

You (plural) yourselve

He himself

She herself

It itself

We ourself

They themself

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W h e n t o u s e a r e f l e x i v e p r o n o u n

R eflex ive p ronouns a re u sed in th ree m a in s i tua t ions .

1 . R ef lex ive p ronouns a re u sed w hen the sub jec t and ob jec t a re the sam e .

I hu r t m y s e l f . T he band ca l l t h e m s e l v e s “D ire S tra its” . H e sho t h i m s e l f .

2 . T hey a re u sed as the ob jec t o f a p repos i t ion , w hen the sub jec t and the ob jec t a re the sam e .

I bough t a p resen t fo r m y s e l f . S he d id i t by h e r s e l f . (S he d id i t a lone .) T ha t m an is ta lk ing to h i m s e l f .

3 . T hey a re u sed w hen you w an t to em phas ize the sub jec t .

For exam ple:

1.I cut m y hair m yself . * In this exam ple " I" does the action of cutting the hair and at the sam e tim e " I" gets the action of the hair being cut.

2.W e defended ourselves brilliantly. * In this exam ple the reflexive pronoun "ourselves" refers ba ck to the subject of the sentence.

John talks to him self w hen he is nervous

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* In this exam ple "H im self" refers to John.

R eflexive pronouns alw ays act as objects not subjects , and they require an interaction betw een the

subject and an object.

For exam ple:

B ecause she w as not hungry w hen the cake w as served, E llen saved herself a piece. * In the independent clause, "E llen" is the subject and "herself" is a reflexive pronoun acting as the indirect object. This sentence is gram m atically correct .

Jhon and m yself are going to the m ovie. * In this sentence, " Jhon" and "m yself" are the subjects. R eflexive pronouns cannot be subjects.

This sentence is gram m atically incorrect .

C are m ust be taken to identify w hether the noun is singular or p lural and choose the pronoun accordingly.

For exam ple:

N or is she shy about giving herself credit for it. W e gave ourselves a second chance to com plete the course. D id they lock them selves out of the house again? G ive yourselves a pat on the back for a job w ell done.

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N ote: The reflexive pronoun can also be used to give m ore em phasis to the subject or object

(intensive pronoun).

For exam ple:

I did it m yself . * I w ant to em phasise the fact that I did it.

E xam ples:

H e w ashed him self . She look ed at herself in the m irror. D iabetics give them selves insulin shots several tim es a day. A fter the party, I asked m yself w hy I had faxed invitations to everyone in m y

office building. R ichard usually rem em bered to send a copy of his e -m ail to him self .

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Q u es tio n s

1 . W elcom e to the party, everyone! Just help ________ to sandw iches and snacks. 2 . John hurt ________ w hile he w as fixing his car. 3 . Look! There's a little bird w ashing ________ in the river. 4 . C an I ask you a question , Sam i? D id you go to classes to learn G erm an, or did you teach ________? 5 . A t 12.30, Junko and I w ent to the cafeteria to buy ________ som e lunch. 6 . Jody and her husband ow n their ow n com pan y, so they can give ________ a holiday any tim e they like. 7 . W hen I saw ________ in the m irror, I w as horrified -- there w as red paint on m y nose! 8 . I'll have to help Y oung H ee fill in her form , but Ja Y oung can do it ________, because her English is excellent. 9 . She stretched out on the sofa. 10. The m en form ed into a line.

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Answer

1. Yourselves

2. Him self

3 . Itse lf

4 . Yourself

5 . Ourselves

6. T hem selves

7. M yself

8 . Herself

9 . Herself

10.T hem selves

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R E F E R E N C E S Webs…

http://w w w.testyourenglish.net/english - online/subjects/refpron.htm l

http://w eb2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/gram m ar/reflex.htm

http://w w w.english -test.net/esl/learn/english/gram m ar/ei040/esl -test.php

B ook

B asic english gram m ar for english language learners by

A nne Seaton and Y.H .M ew

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