Lesson 1 Reflexive Pronouns

Essential Question

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How do we refer back to the subject of a sentence?

Grammar in the World

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When we refer back to a subject in a sentence, it would sound repetitive if, when referring back to the subject, we repeated the subject. It would not sound right to say, for example, My dog Sekani hurt Sekani when he jumped over the barbed wire fence. Instead, we would say, My dog Sekani hurt himself when he jumped over the barbed wire fence.

The words that keep us from repeating the subject again in a sentence are known as reflexive pronouns.

What Do I Know?

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Let's see what you already know about reflexive pronouns with a short quiz:

What Did You Notice?

You may have noticed that all of the reflexive pronouns ended in "-self" or "-selves," so that's one way to recognize them within a sentence.

In addition, you might have noticed that the reflexive pronoun is also a direct object of the subject, meaning that the action in the sentence is done to the subject.

These are the basic characteristics of a reflexive pronoun!

Building Blocks

Grammar is a complex system and structure of language. Mizzou Academy Grammar Lab spotlights one skill (or block) at a time. It is also helpful to see how each skill works together with other, related blocks to build the language structure as a whole. You may find the following resource topics helpful as context for this lesson:

Learn About the Topic

What Is a Reflexive Pronoun?

A reflexive pronoun "reflects back" by referring back to the person or thing that is the subject of the sentence. We use reflexive pronouns when the subject and object in a sentence are the same.

How to Use a Reflexive Pronoun

In the sentence, “My dog Sekani hurt himself when he jumped over the barbed wire fence,” “Sekani” is the subject of the sentence, and “himself” is the reflexive pronoun that refers back to the subject.

monkey looking in mirror

The monkey looks at himself.

image courtesy of Canva

Reflexive pronouns are pretty easy to spot in a sentence because they end either in “-self” or “-selves.” There are 9 reflexive pronouns that we use in English.

The chart below shows all the forms of reflexive pronouns:

Reflexive Pronouns
myself	I am going to reward myself with ice cream for exercising every day this week.
yourself	You need to fix yourself lunch today.
herself	Rachel made herself a cup of coffee because she did not have time for a nap.
himself	Anthony drove himself to the party because he wanted to leave if he got tired.
oneself	In order to have a meaningful life, one should not just care about oneself.
itself	The door locks itself when you close it, so make sure you have the key.
ourselves	We should enjoy ourselves today because it is sunny and warm.
yourselves	I hope you enjoy yourselves on your trip.
themselves	They enjoyed themselves at the play.

Helpful Tips

Although reflexive pronouns are easy to spot in sentences, they are also sometimes misused.

Sometimes people misuse reflexive pronouns in sentences with compound subjects. The sentence, “Aaryn and myself presented our project at the science fair today” is not correct. Instead, the sentence should read, “Aaryn and I presented our project at the science fair today.”

An easy way to figure out if you are using a reflexive pronoun correctly in a situation like this is to remove the first subject, “Aaryn,” and see if the sentence still makes sense. You would not say, “Myself presented our project at the science fair today.” Instead, you would say, “I presented our project at the science fair today.” That means, then, that you should use the word “I” in this sentence instead of “myself”: Aaron and I presented our project at the science fair today.

Sometimes people misuse pronouns as objects in sentences, too. The sentence, “I will make lemonade for your sister and yourself” is incorrect.

Remove the object that is not the reflexive pronoun and see if it still makes sense. Since you would not say, “I will make lemonade for yourself,” change the “yourself” to “you”: “I will make lemonade for your sister and you.”

Do I Get It?

Now, let's see how well you can recognize reflexive pronouns and how they're used with the following quiz: