Reflexive Pronoun?
A reflexive pronoun denotes the reflected action upon the subject like a mirror which is done by that subject. A reflexive pronoun is a type of pronoun. It refers back to the subject of a sentence that is a noun, pronoun, adjective, or adverb.
These are referred to the subject used as the object of a verb.
Reflexives are formed by adding -self to a singular and –selves to plural personal pronouns.
There are eight reflexive pronouns in English.
Let’s have a look-
- Myself
- Yourself
- Himself
- Herself
- Itself
- Ourselves
- Yourselves
- Themselves
Examples of Reflexive Pronoun
We can see that we have used reflexives in the following examples.
We can use these in the singular as well as a plural form.
Singular Number Plural Number
I educate myself. We educate ourselves.
You educate yourself. You educate yourselves.
He educates himself. They educate themselves.
She educates himself. They educate themselves.
It educates himself. They educate themselves.
In the above sentences,
Singular personal pronouns are with the addition of -self and plural personal pronouns are with the addition of –selves and these are called compound Personal Pronouns.
More examples of Reflexive Pronoun
- I taught myself to build a website so I am happy.
- I cook myself for my kids.
- You are speaking to yourself.
- You always correct yourself.
- He had to earn money, so he went to the office himself.
- John bought himself drawing papers.
- The principal writes official letters herself because none can write so well.
- She searches on the search engine herself about this topic.
- We often tell ourselves not to do bad things and we follow it.
- We should improve ourselves to achieve success.
- The students decorated their class by themselves.
- Painters rubbed the wall themselves to repaint.
Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, as well as themselves, are compound personal pronouns.
We can use Compound Personal Pronoun as Emphatic as well as Reflexive Pronoun.
You may like the related links given below.
Go over –
• Personal
• Emphatic
• Relative
• Indefinite Pronouns
