Pronouns: reflexive (myself,themselves, etc.)

We often use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same person or thing:

Hecuthimselfon the broken glass.

Shemadeherselfa cup of tea and sat down in front of the television.

Parentsoften blamethemselvesfor the way their children behave.

We use a reflexive pronoun to make it clear who or what is being referred to.

We can use reflexive pronouns for emphasis:

The director of the company wrote to ushimselfto apologise for the dreadful service.(orThe director of the companyhimselfwrote to us to apologise for the dreadful service.)

We don’t use reflexive pronouns on their own as the subject of a clause, but we can use them with a noun or pronoun to emphasise the subject:

Parents and teachers always pass on to children whatthey themselveshave been told, and this has been going on for hundreds, or even thousands of years.

We often use reflexive pronouns withbyto mean ‘alone’ or ‘without any help’:

Why don’t you goby yourself?

The children made the entire mealby themselves.

We sometimes use reflexive pronouns instead of personal pronouns for politeness, but not as the subject of a clause:

The National Trust is a charity depending on the support of people likeyourself.(or… people like you.)