Reflexive pronouns

UNIT 76  Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.), by myself

A.   The reflexive pronouns are:

singular:       myself                    yourself (one person)                himself/herself/itself

plural:       ourselves     yourselves (more than one person)     themselves

We use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and object are the same:

• Tom cut himself while he was shaving. (not Tom cut him)

• The old lady sat in a corner talking to herself.

• Don't get angry. Control yourself! (said to one person)

• If you want more to eat, help yourselves. (said to more than one person)

• The party was great. We enjoyed ourselves very much.

But we do not use "myself," etc., after bring/take something with . . . :

• I went out and took an umbrella with me. (not with myself)

B.   We do not use "myself," etc., after feel/relax/concentrate:

• I feel great after going for a swim. (not I feel myself great)

• Why don't you try and concentrate?

• It's good to relax.

We do not normally use after wash/dress/shave:
I got up, shaved, washed, and dressed. (not shaved myself, etc.)

But we say: Idried myself.

Note how we use meet:

• What time shall we meet? (not meet ourselves/meet us)                        

C.   Study the difference between -selves and each other:

• Tom and Ann stood in front of the mirror and looked at themselves. (= Tom and Ann looked at Tom and Ann) but: Tom looked at Ann and Ann looked at Tom. They looked at each other.

You can use one another instead of each other:

• Sue and Ann don't like each other. (or one another)

D.   We also use myself, etc., in another way. For example:

• "Who fixed your bicycle for you?''   "Nobody. I fixed it myself."

I fixed it myself= I fixed it, not anybody else. We use myself here to emphasize I. Here are some more examples:

• I'm not going to do it for you. You can do it yourself.

• Let's paint the house ourselves. It will be much cheaper.

• The movie itself wasn't very good, but I liked the music.

• I don't think Tom will get the job. Tom himself doesn't think he'll get it. (or Tom doesn't think he'll get it himself.)

E.   By myself yourself, etc. = alone. We say:

• I like living by myself

• Did you go on vacation by yourself?

• Jack was sitting by himself in a corner of the cafe