Reflexive Pronouns – myself, yourself

Exercises

Explanation

Examples:

• I cut myself while cooking.

• You should look after yourself.

• They told themselves to stay calm.

• We prepared ourselves for the exam.

1. Reflexive Pronouns – Forms

2. When Do We Use Reflexive Pronouns?

A. When the subject and object are the same person

The person does something to themselves.

• She taught herself to play the piano.

• He hurt himself during the match.

• The cat cleaned itself.

B. To give emphasis (Intensive Pronouns)

We also use these pronouns to emphasize that someone did something alone or without help.

• Emma decorated the room herself.

• The manager himself called me.

• We built the table ourselves.

These can appear after the noun or at the end of the sentence.

3. Important Notes

A. Some verbs do NOT need reflexive pronouns in English

In English, verbs like wash, shave, dress, feel, and concentrate normally do not use reflexive pronouns, even though many languages do.

• Incorrect: He washed himself.
  Correct: He washed.

• Incorrect: She dressed herself.
  Correct: She dressed.

More examples:

• I feel tired today.

• We tried to concentrate on the task.

B. Reflexive pronouns after words like as, like, except

We sometimes use reflexive pronouns for politeness or emphasis.

• This course is designed for students like yourselves.

• Everyone enjoyed the trip except myself.

4. Reflexive Pronouns With Prepositions

Sometimes we use reflexive pronouns after prepositions such as by or for.

• I fixed the computer myself. (= without help)

• She bought a gift for herself.

• The cat opened the cupboard by itself.

Here are more examples to show how reflexive pronouns work:

• Be careful with the knife! You might cut yourself.

• The children behaved themselves at the restaurant.

• I’ll make the presentation myself.

• The machine turned off by itself.

• We told ourselves that everything would be fine.