Personal, reflexive and emphatic pronouns: How and When to Use in English
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Personal, reflexive and emphatic pronouns
| I buy myself a pen. | The pen is for me. |
| You buy yourself a pen. | The pen is for you. |
| He buys himself a pen. | The pen is for him. |
| She buys herself a pen. | The pen is for her. |
| It is a pen. | I buy it. |
| We buy ourselves a pen. | The pen is for us. |
| You buy yourselves a pen. | The pen is for you. |
| They buy themselves a pen. | The pen is for them. |
Note:
• The pronoun it is used to replace a neutral subject (an object, for example), or to introduce impersonal expressions:
• The pronoun it is used to replace a neutral subject (an object, for example), or to introduce impersonal expressions:
There is a bird on that branch. It is singing. There is a bird on that branch. The bird is singing.
It's hot today. The weather is hot today.
It would be good to wait. Waiting would be a good idea.
• To stress the pronoun, we can sometimes add myself, or for my part (emphasizing pronouns):
I myself disagree with what was said. I, for my part, disagree...
• Some examples of the use of you and me, or you and I, if the speaker and one other person are the SUBJECTS of the sentence:
This song is just for you and me. This song is exclusively for us.
You and I have the same dreams. We have the same dreams.
• Some examples of reflexive pronouns:
I'll do it myself. I will do it (alone).
We are enjoying ourselves very much. We are having a lot of fun.
Behave yourselves. Act sensibly!
Exercise 1
Bob: go and see what Horatio is doing in the laboratory!
Polly: I don't want to. Last time we went down there, he nearly killed with a fire extinguisher.
Polly: I don't want to. Last time we went down there, he nearly killed with a fire extinguisher.
Bob: Let's 1 go and see what Horatio is doing in the laboratory!
Polly: I don't want to. Last time we went down there, he nearly killed us 2 with a fire extinguisher.
Polly: I don't want to. Last time we went down there, he nearly killed us 2 with a fire extinguisher.
1 Let's: 'Let's' introduces a suggestion for multiple people. 'Let's go and see' expresses the speaker's desire to see (with another person!) what Horatio is doing in the laboratory. Example: Let's have a look at your big feet.
1 We: 'We go see' is not an appropriate grammatical construction. The present tense is not used like this in English. We must use the imperative command 'let's' here.
1 I: 'I go see' is not an appropriate construction. The present tense is not used like this in English. We must use the imperative command 'let's' here.
2 us: This is correct. When used as the object of a verb, 'us' is the personal pronoun for a group of people including the speaker. 'Us' corresponds with 'we' as a subject. Example: The police never found us.
2 we: This is incorrect. 'We' should only be used as the subject of a sentence, not the object!
2 ourselves: This is incorrect. We use reflexive pronouns (like "ourselves") when the object of the verb and the subject are the same. Example: We are looking at ourselves in the mirror.
Exercise 2
I can't believe Susie bought a fake wedding ring. I understand though. She has always wanted to keep parents off back about being single.
I can't believe Susie bought herself 1 a fake wedding ring. I understand though. She has always wanted to keep her 2 parents off her 3 back about being single.
1 herself: We use reflexive pronouns when the object of the verb (the ring is for Susie) and the subject (Susie) are the same. The gender of the pronoun must agree with the gender of the subject, Susie, so we use 'herself'.
1 himself: 'Himself' is incorrect here because the pronoun must agree with the gender of the subject, which is Susie (a female). 'Himself' is the reflexive pronoun for a man.
1 oneself: 'Oneself' is incorrect here. It is usually only used with the pronoun 'one', and never with a gendered subject.
2 her: To refer to Susie's parents, or anything 'belonging' to Susie, the possessive adjective we use must agree in gender with Susie, and so we use 'her'. To talk about Bruno's parents, we would say 'his' parents.
2 his: 'His' is incorrect here because Susie is a female. In English, possessive adjective must agree in gender with the subject. To talk about Bruno's parents, we would say 'his' parents.
2 their: 'Their' is incorrect here because Susie is a singular subject whose gender is known. To refer to the parents of a group of brothers and sisters, we would say 'their parents'.
3 her: Because we are referring to something belonging to Susie, (a woman), we use 'her' to indicate possession. In English, possessive adjectives must agree in gender with the subject.
3 their: 'Their' is incorrect here because Susie is a female, whose gender is known. 'Their' is used to describe a possession for a group of people ('their family') or a person whose gender is unknown ('I don't like this person or their ideas').
3 his: 'His' is incorrect here because Susie is a female, whose gender is known. In English, possessive adjectives must agree in gender with the subject. To talk about Bruno's parents, we would say 'his' parents.
Exercise 3
Fill in the blanks below using the correct form of the personal pronoun or possessive adjective.
Because he was tired of always borrowing Polly's stapler, Icarus decided to buy one of own. Early in the morning, before work, Icarus borrowed mother's car and drove to the local office supply store. bought a shiny red stapler, and then showed to colleagues. Everyone at the office agreed that was a very nice stapler indeed.
Because he was tired of always borrowing Polly's stapler, Icarus decided to buy one of own. Early in the morning, before work, Icarus borrowed mother's car and drove to the local office supply store. bought a shiny red stapler, and then showed to colleagues. Everyone at the office agreed that was a very nice stapler indeed.
Fill in the blanks below using the correct form of the personal pronoun or possessive adjective.
Because he was tired of always borrowing Polly's stapler, Icarus decided to buy one of his 1 own. Early in the morning, before work, Icarus borrowed his 2 mother's car and drove to the local office supply store. He 3 bought a shiny red stapler, and then showed it 4 to his 5 colleagues. Everyone at the office agreed that it 6 was a very nice stapler indeed.
Because he was tired of always borrowing Polly's stapler, Icarus decided to buy one of his 1 own. Early in the morning, before work, Icarus borrowed his 2 mother's car and drove to the local office supply store. He 3 bought a shiny red stapler, and then showed it 4 to his 5 colleagues. Everyone at the office agreed that it 6 was a very nice stapler indeed.
1 his: We must use 'his' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the male subject (Icarus). In English, possessive adjectives must agree in gender with the subject. Possessions belonging to a male take the pronoun 'his'.
2 his: We must use 'his' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the male subject (Icarus).
3 He: We must use 'he' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the male subject Icarus.
4 it: We must use 'it' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the neutral subject 'the stapler'. A stapler is a device used to attach one object to another.
5 his: We must use 'his' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the male subject Icarus.
6 it: We must use 'it' here because the pronoun agrees in gender with the neutral subject, the stapler. A stapler is a device used to attach one object to another.
Exercise 4
In the sentence, "They outline a few of the points I was hoping to discuss with you before I leave," what does "they" refer to?
In the sentence, "They outline a few of the points I was hoping to discuss with you before I leave," what does "they" refer to?
Excerpt: I faxed over a few documents, which you should have received yesterday. They outline a few of the points I was hoping to discuss with you before I leave.
The documents "outline a few points", but the "points" do not outline "a few points".
In this sentence, "they" refers to the subject of the previous sentence, which is "documents". Kevin is describing the contents of the documents he sent to Mrs. Lee before their meeting.
"Production processes" cannot "outline a few points".
Excerpt: I faxed over a few documents, which you should have received yesterday. They outline a few of the points I was hoping to discuss with you before I leave.
Exercise 5
When Mayor Flimshaw says, "I'm rather glad he was busy," who does he refer to?
When Mayor Flimshaw says, "I'm rather glad he was busy," who does he refer to?
Mayor Flimshaw is not likely to say "he" when referring to himself.
A company (the Delavigne Corporation) cannot be replaced by the personal pronoun "he". However we could use the pronoun "it" to refer to a company.
The personal pronoun usually refers to the last person who was mentioned, in this case Bruno Delavigne. This is the best choice here.
Unlike in many languages, cities do not take masculine or feminine pronouns or articles. San Francisco cannot be "he", because "it" is a city.
Susan cannot be "he", because "she" is a woman.
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