Readers of this book will capture many wild pronouns, and never start a sentence with me again. All weapons are used to tame our beastly pronouns, to sort out the differences between me and I, and to help everyone to use pronouns correctly.
The pronouns are holding a conference to determine their places in the English language. Me is tired of being an object and although he fights to be allowed to serve as a subject, the conference firmly puts him into his objective place. Mine is so busy with her possessions she has trouble getting to the podium to speak. You is flamboyant and a braggart.
Throughout the book, serious explanations about the pronouns are mixed with humorous discussions amongst the pronouns themselves. Numerous examples provide both correct and incorrect pronoun placement, while exercises (with answers at the back) help readers to put pronouns into their writing.
Serving as a comprehensive reference book, All About Me, Or Is It I? will help anyone who wants to speak or write good English, and who finds pronouns confusing. It can be used as a teaching aid, a reference book, and for intense individual study. Teachers, media staff, parents, writers, speakers, advanced ESL learners, and anyone aged 13 and above will enjoy teaching or learning from this book.
The author, a Canadian academic librarian, has spent most of her life in scholarly libraries and has written extensively in her field.
9. Taking care of myself. Reflexive and emphatic (or intensive) pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
These pronouns are sometimes called reflexives and are used in two ways. First, they are used to refer (reflexive) to a person elsewhere in the sentence and second, they are used only for emphasis (emphatic). They are formed by adding the suffix self (singular) or selves (plural) to personal pronouns. Note that some reflexives begin with the possessive forms (myself, yourself, ourselves) while others (himself and themselves), begin with the objective forms. Herself begins with the possessive and objective form. There are no words “hisself” or “theirselves” - the words to use are himself and themselves.
Reflexive pronouns are used to carry the action of the verb back to the subject. These pronouns refer to the doer of the action; the subject and object refer to the same person. Reflexives are often used after a verb plus a preposition.
Use a reflexive pronoun when the subject refers to or performs an action on itself.
Himself: “What really bugs me is the way people use myself instead of me.”
Myself: “I’m being kept a whole lot busier than I was some years ago. I suppose it’s not really fair to me, but I like this busy life.”
Me: “Myself, you should stay away and let me be the proper object. It’s really mean of you to hog places where you don’t belong. You shouldn’t be in a sentence when there is no I to be reflected."
Myself: “I forget, when am I correct in a sentence?”
Himself: “Like all of us “-self” pronouns, we can be used for emphasis, or we can be reflexive, and that’s it. We can’t be simple objects.”
Myself: “Well, I’m willing to listen. Be more specific. What are reflexive pronouns?”
Himself: “They’re easy. We’re used as reflexive pronouns when we refer to a person named earlier in the sentence. The subject, if it’s she, performs an action on herself.”
I: “So if the subject is I, then I perform the action on myself. If I’m not in the sentence then myself can’t be either.”
Me: “Right on. That’s when I come in.”
Himself: “You’re getting ahead of the agenda here. First I want to put examples of reflexives on the board. They refer to the doer of the action.”
- One can hurt oneself on the trampoline.
- I pride myself on being tidy.
- He hurt himself.
- She made herself a cup of coffee.
- They took themselves to a movie.
- You are only fooling yourself.
- He loves himself too much.
- The cat washed itself.
- Look after yourself.
- She talks to herself all the time.
- The leader has a high opinion of herself.
- He bought the fruit for himself.
Himself: “Sometimes it’s a help to remember that some verbs actually require the reflexive, for example: avail, pride, and absent. Other verbs commonly used with reflexives include: amuse, behave, believe in, blame, care for, dry, enjoy, and hurt.”
- He prided himself on his muscular body.
- She blamed herself for their argument about the children.
- The children behaved themselves until they got tired.
- Did you enjoy yourself at the party?
- You must believe in yourself in order to succeed.
- They were able to care for themselves until they were ninety.
Emphatic or intensive pronouns are used to emphasize the person who is involved, or who is named elsewhere. When used this way the “-self” word is never essential and can be left out of the sentence without changing its meaning. They are the same pronouns as the reflexive ones, but are used differently. They are usually located directly after the pronoun or noun that they are emphasizing.
Himself: “Now I want to explain emphatic pronouns and when “–self” pronouns are used for emphasis.”
Myself: “That’s it, isn’t it? We’re used for emphasis. The main thing to remember is that, if we’re omitted, the sentence doesn’t change its meaning. And that we often stand directly after the subject or object we’re emphasizing.”
- He himself ran the mile.
- As for myself, I just sat around and watched.
- Life itself is at stake.
- I spoke to the leader himself.
- I don’t like fish myself. (Means “as far as I’m concerned.”)
- The CEO went to Kenya herself, instead of sending the usual emissary.
- I’ll make the lunch myself.
- I’ll make the lunch by myself.
I: “Note the different meaning in the last two examples. The first emphasizes that I’ll make the lunch. The second makes it clear that I don’t want any help.”
Me: “That’s just like you. You keep to yourself, always capitalized.”
Himself: “Stop bickering you two. I want to point out that emphatic pronouns can mean also.”
Let’s eat together. We’re going out to dinner ourselves.
Himself: “Here is the key to using reflexive and emphatic pronouns. Remember this and you’ll put us all in the right place.”
Remember: pronouns that end with self must refer to a person or thing in the same sentence.
- He made himself a sandwich.
- You fix the broken chair yourself.
- Myself, I never eat turnip.
In correct speech and writing, NEVER use these “self” pronouns in place of a personal subjective or objective pronoun. For a “self” word to be used, there must be a person, animal or noun (for itself) in the sentence for the word to reflect. The most common mistake is to use myself when there is no I in the sentence to be reflected.