Advanced Grammar – Reflexive Pronouns

The following lesson is for advanced students. If you are not sure of your English level, take our test!

You can find all this information, plus speaking, writing, vocabulary exercises and more on the ABA English Course Unit 130 – Complete Success.

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are not used very often in English. We use them when the same person is both the subject and object of the action. For example: 

Look after yourself

The reflexive pronouns are the following:

myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves

Let’s have a look at some more examples:

I cut myself shaving this morning.

Look at yourself in the mirror. That dress looks great on you!

She enjoyed herself a lot on holiday.

They blamed themselves for being late to the wedding.

Remember that they are used when the same person is both the subject and the object of the action. However, they are not needed when the verb describes things that people usually do for themselves.

Let’s look at verbs that are not followed by reflexive pronouns. For example:

I always shower in the morning.

Tell the children to get dressed.

Notice that in these examples we do not need to add the reflexive pronouns unless we want to emphasize the fact that we are doing something without help.

Emphatic Pronouns

When reflexive pronouns are used to stress a particular noun they are called emphatic pronouns and they are used to stress that the subject has personally done an action. For example:

She did it all by herself or She did it herself.

I spoke to the shop assistant myself.

Everyone cleaned out the desk themselves.

Unit 130 – Complete Success

Good job! You just revised the grammar from Unit 130!

Advanced grammar reflexive pronouns ABA English

In Unit 130 – Complete Success, you will meet Jack and Marilyn. Find out the secret to their singing success!

By watching ABA Films, you will practice your listening comprehension. Record your voice and compare phrases to improve your pronunciation and gain fluency by interpreting different roles. You will also learn new vocabulary and review the unit’s grammar lesson.

4 comments

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