Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

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Reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. There is also a reflexive generic pronoun: oneself.

Same subject and object

Reflexive pronouns are normally used when a subject and an object are the same person.

• She cut herself, chopping the onions. 
• We really enjoyed ourselves at the party. 
• Talking to oneself is not necessarily a sign of madness. 

After preposition

We can use reflexive pronouns after most prepositions if they refer back to the subject.

• He should be really proud of himself. 
• With the 3-D printer and this scanner, you can print a small version of yourself. 

NOT after prepositions of place

We don’t use reflexive pronouns after prepositions of place; we use object pronouns instead.

• She left her handbag in the chair in front of herself.
• She left her handbag in the chair in front of her. 
• They put their luggage behind them. 

And we don’t use reflexive pronouns after with when it means ‘accompanied by’.

• He took his son with him.

To emphasise who did the action

We also use a reflexive pronoun to emphasise that the subject does the action and nobody else. In this sense, we can use the reflexive at the end of the sentence or after the subject.

• I will talk to Anna myself. 
• I think you should do it yourself instead of having it done. 
• Paul himself designed everything. 

By oneself

We can say by myself, by yourself, etc. to mean ‘alone, without anybody else’, or also to mean ‘without anybody’s help’.

• My son doesn’t like to be by himself; he always wants us around. 
• She raised her four children by herself. 

We can also say on my own, on your own, etc.

• I was on my own all morning.
• She did it on her own.

Verbs with NO reflexive pronoun

Students of English often make mistakes when they use some verbs which are used reflexively in their language but not in English. Some of these verbs are dress, shave, wash, relax, hurry, or open.

• The first thing I do is wash, shave, and dress myself.
• The first thing I do is wash, shave, and dress.
• When I arrive home, I only want to relax on the sofa. 
• Please hurry, or we’ll be late. 
• The door opened, and everybody got in. 

Reciprocal pronouns

We use each other or one another when person A does something to person B and person B does something to person A.

• When the twins found each other, they had been living apart for more than ten years. 
• You should try to understand one another. 

We also can use the possessive forms each other’s and one another’s.

• The lovers were found in each other’s arms. 
• The couple enjoyed one another’s company so much that they soon decided to move in together.