UNIT 82. Myself/yourself/themselves etc

A. Study this example:

George cut himself when he was shaving this morning.

We use myself/yourself/himself etc. (reflexive pronouns)

when the subject and object are the same:

subject -> (George) cut (himself). <- object

The reflexive pronouns are:

singular: myself yourself (one person) himself/herself/itself

plural: ourselves yourselves (more than one person) themselves

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

* Julia had a great holiday. She enjoyed herself very much.

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

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

Compare:

* It's not our fault. You can't blame us.

* It's our own fault. We blame ourselves.

Note that we do not use myself/yourself etc. after 'bring/take something with...':

* It might rain. I'll take an umbrella with me. (not 'with myself')

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

* You must try and concentrate. (not 'concentrate yourself')

* 'Do you feel nervous?' 'Yes, I can't relax.'

* What time shall we meet? (not 'meet ourselves', not 'meet us')

We normally use wash/shave/dress without myself etc.:

* He got up, washed, shaved and dressed. (not 'washed himself' etc.)

But we say 'I dried myself'.

C. Study the difference between -selves and each other:

* Tom and Ann stood in front of the mirror and looked at themselves. (= Tom and Ann looked at Tom and Ann)

but * Tom looked at Ann; Ann looked at Tom. They looked at each other.

You can use one another instead of each other:

* How long have you and Bill known one another? (or... known each other)

* Sue and Ann don't like each other. (or... don't like one another)

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

* 'Who repaired your bicycle for you?' 'Nobody. I repaired it myself.'

'I repaired it myself' = I repaired it, not anybody else. Here, myself is used to emphasize I (=it makes it stronger). Some more examples:

* I'm not going to do it 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 liked the music.

* I don't think Sue will get the job. Sue herself doesn't think she'll get it. (or Sue doesn't think she'll get it herself.)