Reflexive pronouns- myself/yourself/themselves

A. Study this example:

Steve introduced himself to the other guests.

We use myself/yourself/himself etc. (reflexive pronouns)
when the subject and object are the same:
Steve introduced himself
subject                 object

The reflexive pronouns are:

singular (-self)   myself         yourself (one person)         himself/herself/itself
plural (-selves) ourselves     yourselves (more than one) themselves

I don’t want you to pay for me. I’ll pay for myself. (not I’ll pay for me)

Amy had a great holiday. She really enjoyed herself.

Do you talk to yourself sometimes? (said to one person)

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

Compare:

Lisa introduced me to the other guests.

           I introduced myself to the other guests.

B.  We do not use myself etc. aft er feel/relax/concentrate/meet:

I feel nervous. I can’t relax.

You need to concentrate. (not concentrate yourself)

What time shall we meet tomorrow?

Normally we do not use myself etc. after wash/shave/dress:

He got up, washed, shaved and dressed. (not washed himself etc.)You can also say get dressed (He got dressed).

C. Compare -selves and each other:

Kate and Joe stood in front of the mirror and looked at themselves.(= Kate and Joe together looked at Kate and Joe)

Kate looked at Joe, and Joe looked at Kate. They looked at each other.

You can use one another instead of each other:

How long have you and Ben known each other? or … known one another?

Sue and Alice don’t like each other. or … don’t like one another.

Do they live near each other? or … near one another?

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

‘Who repaired your bike?’      ‘I repaired it myself.’

I repaired it myself = I repaired it, not another person. Here, myself is used to emphasise ‘I’
(= it makes it stronger). Some more examples:

I’m not going to do your work for you. You can do it yourself. (= you, not me)

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

The film itself wasn’t very good, but I loved the music.

I don’t think Lisa will get the job she applied for. Lisa doesn’t think so herself. orLisa herself doesn’t think so.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

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