The Grammar Business
Part Two
5. Reflexive pronouns:
when not to use them
The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Reflexive pronouns are
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
myself
yourself
himself/herself
itself
yourselves
ourselves
themselves
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
They refer back to the subject of
the sentence
•
•
•
•
I am not so sure myself.
She herself has no idea who her father is.
He dressed himself carefully.
We didn’t arrive ourselves until much, much
later.
• You think I’m beautiful? You’re beautiful
yourself.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Common error
• Using the reflexive pronoun instead of
the personal pronoun as the object of
the sentence
• e.g. He gave it to myself
• Which should be “He gave it to me.”
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
So it’s wrong to say
• Jane was very sure of myself
• It doesn’t make sense.
• Jane can be sure of herself, but not of
myself.
• The reflexive pronoun has to agree with
the subject of the sentence, which in
this case, is Jane.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
It is correct to say
• Jane was very sure of herself - and very sure
of me.
• She was fooling herself actually, but she
wasn’t fooling me.
• That’s what I told myself at the time.
• Later, it transpired that we had both, to some
extent, been deceiving ourselves.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
And it is correct to say
• My friend and I went out on Saturday.
But not
• My friend and myself went out on
Saturday.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
What’s wrong with this one?
• He gave a cheque to her and to myself.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
It should be
• He gave a cheque to her and to me.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Correct the following sentences, then
compare what you’ve got with the
answers on the next slide
• He hit her, but neither myself, nor Jeremy.
• The Prime Minister has informed myself of
the seriousness of the situation.
• The slug has slimed itself and myself too.
• The King and myself are delighted to meet
yourselves.
• He has informed himself but not yourselves of
the situation.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Answers below
• He hit her, but neither me, nor Jeremy.
• The Prime Minister has informed me of the
seriousness of the situation.
• The slug has slimed itself and me too.
• The King and I are delighted to meet you.
• He has informed himself but not you of the
situation.
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
Health warning:
• grammatical rules tend to change through
common usage
• in speech, it is becoming more common to
use the reflexive pronoun (myself) instead of
the personal pronoun (me) to add emphasis
• so
• you may well hear: “The offer was extended
to myself.”
• but don’t write it!
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College
If this still confuses you
• try the exercise on Handout Five
– (go on yoursel’ son!)
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The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College