Do you know what reflexive pronouns are? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on reflexive pronouns, including the definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 2, 2021
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Common Questions
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What is a reflexive pronoun?
According to British Council, reflexive pronouns refer back to, or reflect on, a person or thing. English reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, himself, herself, themself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves. “Oneself” works with “one.” “Ourselves” works with “we.” “Yourself” works with the singular form of “you.” “Herself” works with “she.” “Yourselves” works with the plural form of “you.” “Itself” works with “it.” “Themselves” and “themself” work with “they” or “them.” “Myself” works with “I.” “Himself” works with “he.” Reflexive pronouns can be both a direct object pronoun and indirect object pronoun. When it is the direct object, it’s the same as the subject pronoun and receives the action of a transitive verb, or is the subject of a verb. When it is an indirect object, it demonstrates why or for whom the action is performed.
Many different languages also contain terms that mean reflexive pronoun. You may notice that many of these translations of reflexive pronoun from Word Sense look and sound similar to the term reflexive pronoun. These are called cognates, which are formed when two words have the same root or language of origin.
- Czech: zvratné zájmeno (neut.), reflexivum (neut.)
- Esperanto: refleksiva pronomo, refleksivo
- Slovak: zvratné zámeno (neut.)
- Mandarin: 反身代詞, 反身代词 (fǎnshēn dàicí)
- Hungarian: visszaható névmás
- Korean: 재귀대명사 (jaegwi daemyeongsa) (再歸代名詞)
- Italian: pronome riflessivo
- German: Reflexivpronomen (neut.)
- Russian: возвра́тное местоиме́ние (neut.)
- Icelandic: afturbeygt fornafn (neut.)
- Spanish: pronombre reflexivo (masc.)
- Dutch: wederkerend voornaamwoord (neut.)
- Danish: refleksiv pronomen
- Roman: povratna zamenica (fem.)
- Norwegian: refleksiv pronomen
- Turkish: dönüşlülük zarfı
- Ghotuo: réfleskit prónoonen (masc.)
- Finnish: refleksiivipronomini
- French: pronom réfléchi (masc.)
- Polish: zaimek zwrotny (masc.)
- Arabic: ضَمِير اِنْعِكَاسِيّ (masc.)
- Cyrillic: повратна заменица (fem.)
- Japanese: 再帰代名詞 (さいきだいめいし, saiki daimeishi)
- Swedish: reflexiv pronomen
- Portuguese: pronome reflexivo (masc.)
- Faroese: afturbent fornavn (neut.)
What are examples of reflexive pronouns?
A reflexive pronoun can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! The following sentences are examples of reflexive pronouns that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term reflexive pronouns today or notice when someone else is using a reflexive pronoun.
- John made himself a cup of tea.
- Sam taught herself how to play the guitar.
- Anna made important points in the debate, and was the only person to use herself as an example.
- When they did not make it into the journalism club, they decided to make a newsletter themselves.
- The substitute teacher created confusion for himself when he began going off of the daily routine set up by the teacher.
- Jerry washed himself in the shower after cleaning the muddy dog.
- Jessa found herself wearing her shirt backwards since she had gotten dressed so early in the morning.
- The group of teens got themselves a ticket for being out after curfew.
- She taught herself Latin and Greek in order to succeed in the spelling bee.
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- past tense
- sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
- feminine
- collective noun
- article
- parenthetical | parenthetically
- preposition (prep.)
- head
- progressive
- to-infinitive
- person
- singular
- optative
- indirect passive
- pro-form
- similative
- nominal relative | nominal relative clause
- direct question
- predicative
- participial adjective
- adjective
- apodosis and protasis
- ellipsis | elliptical
- adverbial | adverbially
- first person
- anticipatory
- complementary
- third-person
- auxiliary verb | auxiliary
- concrete
- object | direct object | indirect object
- indirect speech
- appositive
- plural
- prefix
- genitive
- pronoun (pron.)
- tense
- subjective
- indefinite
- verb (v.)
- periphrasis | periphrastic
- construction
- present tense
- combining form (comb. form)
- that-clause
- morpheme
- attributive
- subordinate clause
- clause
- part of speech
- agent noun
- prepositional object
- parasynthetic
- declarative
- abstract
- compound | compounding
- copular verb | copula
- antecedent
- positive
- imperative (imper.)
- present participle
- modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
- cognate object
- indirect object
- conjunction (conj.)
- quasi-
- comparative
- double object
- impersonal (impers.)
- inflection | inflected | inflectional
- construed (const., constr.)
- main clause
- interrogative
- premodify | premodifier
- non-referential
- causative
- cataphoric
- prepositional phrase
- prepositional passive
- subject
- possessive pronouns | proper name
- reflexive
- verbal noun
- passive infinitive
- postmodify | postmodifier
- transitive
- infinitive
- zero
- filler
- combination
- accusative
- collocation | collocate
- dual
- active
- masculine
- participle | past participle | present participle
- modify | modifier
- unmarked genitive
- noun phrase
- base form
- noun (n.)
- suffix
- indicative
- direct object
- direct speech
- case
- conditional
- finite
- interjection
- special use
- agree | agreement
- phrasal verb
- objective
- subjunctive
- main verb
- intransitive
- past participle
- intensifier
- locative
- perfect
- mood
- bare infinitive
- neuter
- absolute (absol.)
- vocative
- instrumental
- apposition
- complement
- possessive pronoun
- dative
- number
- indirect question
- simple
- passive
- possessive
- pleonasm | pleonastic
- mass noun
- second person
- stem
- common noun
- definite article
- gender
- protasis
- determiner
- count noun
- nominative
- non-finite
- adverb (adv.)
- superlative
- relative
- anaphoric
- phrase (phr.)
- personal pronoun
- demonstrative
- possessive adjective
- element
Overall, the term reflexive pronouns refer to pronouns that reflect back one oneself, or another person or thing. A reflexive pronoun can be a recipient of the action of a sentence. Make sure you use the correct pronoun that reflects the subject of a sentence, as this is a common mistake.
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