View source for Reflexive pronoun

'''Reflexive pronouns''' are treated in the AWE database as a subset of of [[personal pronoun]]s.  (Some other writers treat them as a separate type of [[pronoun]].  '''Reflexive pronouns''' are the words we use to refer back to a [[noun]] or pronoun previously mentioned in the sentence.  If we say â€œJohn hit himâ€, we presume that the victim of the assault was a second person, other than John.  If, on the other hand, we say â€œJohn hit himselfâ€, we presume that he has had an accident.  [[Singular]] reflexive pronouns end in '''â€“self''', like '''myself''', '''herself''' and '''itself'''; [[plural]] ones, like '''themselves''', '''yourselves''' and '''ourselves''' end in '''-selves'''.  These [[suffix]]es are added to the relevant personal pronoun in either the [[objective]] ('''him-''' and '''them-''') or [[possessive]] forms ('''my-''', '''your-''' and '''our-''').  Two ('''it-''' and '''her-''' are ambiguous.  Note that it is regarded as a mistake in formal English to say '<strike>the<big>ir</big>selves</strike>'
or '<strike>hi<big>s</big>self</strike>', though both are normal in some [[dialect]]s of spoken British English.
[[category:grammar]][[category:Word Classes]][[category:pronouns]][[category:academic English]]