Collocations of Reflexive Pronouns with Verbs and Prepositions
Abstract: This essay mainly focuses on the collocations of reflexive pronouns with
verbs and prepositions so it is divided into two parts: the collocations of reflexive pronouns
with verbs and the collocation of reflexive pronouns with prepositions, each containing a
number of phrases together with example sentences.
Topic words: examples, reflexive pronoun, verb, preposition
In a sense, reflexive pronouns are used in situations where the subject and object refer
to the same person. However, on a number of occasions, such collocation may carry special
meanings. In the following part of this essay, we will give a few examples of such
collocations and they are divided into the collocation of reflexive pronouns with
prepositions and the collocations of reflexive pronouns with verbs.
The collocation of reflexive pronouns with prepositions
The structure of a preposition followed by a reflexive pronoun always plays the role of
adverbial or complement. Such phrases are idiomatic. As the number of the common used
ones is limited, we list them one by one as follows:
a. by oneself
alone or automatically
He lives by himself. (= alone)
The machine works by itself
b. of oneself
automatically
Success will not come of itself to knock at your door.
c. for oneself
in person，(after words like see, find, decide, etc.)
If you don’t believe me, you may go there and see for yourself
d. to oneself
belong to
How I wish to have a room to myself.
e. in oneself
concerning with the nature of
The invitation is in itself a friendship step.
f. beside oneself
be wild with joy, etc or totally engaged
He was beside himself with joy.
g. between ourselves a secret between two people
This matter is between ourselves.
h. among ourselves
similar to between ourselves but used only with three people
or more
They divided the apple among themselves.
i. above oneself
happy or proud
Hearing the news they were quite above themselves.
j. in spite of oneself
cannot help doing sth
When he heard the good news he laughed in spite of himself.
Collocations of reflexive pronouns with verbs
We have mentioned in the introduction that such structure is used whenever the
subject and the object refer to the same person so this kind of collocations is countless. We
will just name a few special ones and catalogue them by means of sentence structure.
The structure of SVO:
Some reflexive pronouns often collocate with verbs such as deport, behave, conduct,
etc. to show good manners and bad manners.
He behaved himself fairly well when he was at college.
She always conducts herself like a lady.
The boys were trained to deport themselves like gentlemen.
In addition, there are quite a few of reflexive verbs in this structure.
Verbs which are required reflexive object are called reflexive verbs, such as absent
oneself (from), avail oneself (of), betake oneself, pride oneself (on).
Verbs where the reflexive pronoun may be left out with little or no change in meaning
are called optionally reflexive verbs, such as adjust (oneself), dress (oneself), prove
(oneself to be competent), shave (oneself), wash (oneself)
The structure of SVoO:
She made herself a fine dress.
I promise myself a fruitful discussion with you.
The youth promised himself a rapid progress.
I have left myself little space to write of Huxley’s contributions to zoological
science.
The structure of SVOC:
In some SVOC structures, the complement shows the result of a certain action to the
subject, such as:
He talked himself hoarse.
They quarreled themselves red in the face.
The sky has rained itself out.
He drank himself under the table.
John had begun to fret and worry himself out of spirit and appetite.
In other SVOC structures, reflexive pronouns collocate with words like find, hear,
catch to show that the subject do something without realizing it. Examples are as follows:
The enemy found themselves in a dilemma.
Mr. Jones found himself thinking.
He heard himself apologizing to her.
She caught herself making the same grammatical mistake.
In phrases where reflexive pronouns collocate with words like see or fancy, the
complement is what the subject imagines himself to be, such as:
She still fancies herself young and beautiful.
I can’t see myself allowing people to cheat me.
In addition to the usage mentioned above, there are some idiomatic collocations:
You must pull yourself together. (pluck up one’s spirit)
She took herself away. (went away)
He often puts himself forward. (puts on airs)
Carl played a joke on Bob and gave himself away (revealed his original purpose)
by laughing.
He has really put himself out (made efforts) to see that everybody is comfortable.
Besides, there are also some proverbs with reflexive pronouns:
He made a nuisance of himself. (annoyed others)
I don’t want to make a show of myself (become a laughing stock) before strangers.
Don’t make a pig of yourself. (eat a lot and in a bad manner)
He could have hugged himself for joy (be happy and contented) at his success.
All in all, the general usage of reflexive pronouns is listed above. By using correct
collocations we can enrich our language and make it more colorful.
References:
1. 《大学英语深层语法》
，王国栋，北京：清华大学出版社，2005，第 482-487 页。
2. C.E.ECKERSLEY, M.A. AND J.M. ECKERSLEY, M.A., “A COMRREHENSIVE
ENGLISH GRAMMAR”, LONGMAN GROUP LIMITED, LONDON, 1984, pp: 136-142.
3. RANDOLPH OUIRK, SIDNEI GREENBAUM, CEOFFREY LEECH AND JAN
SVARTVIK, “A GRAMMAR OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH”, LONGMAN GROUP
LIMITED, LONDON, 1973, pp: 211-213.
4. http://www.csok.net/info/6642.htm