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Reflexive Pronoun




In English , the reflexive pronouns are ''myself'', ''yourself'', ''thyself'', ''himself'', ''herself'', ''itself'', ''oneself'', ''ourselves'', ''yourselves'', and ''themselves''. In the statements "I see '''him'''" and "'''She''' sees '''you'''", the objects are not the same persons as the subjects, and regular pronouns are used. However, when the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing, the reflexive pronoun is used: "I see '''myself'''" or "'''She''' sees '''herself'''".


MISTAKES

An increasingly common mistake is to use the reflexive pronoun in a non-reflexive fashion, a case of Hypercorrection similar to misuse of '' Whom '': for example, "Please, forward the information to myself" (correct usage requires ''me'').

On the other hand, it is common in some subsets of the English-speaking population, including Americans , to use standard Objective Pronouns in the reflexive position, especially in the first and sometimes second persons, and especially for the indirect object: for example, "I want to get me some supper." Careful speakers of most nationalities that have English as a native language tend to regard this usage as incorrect.


ORIGINS AND USAGE

Sometimes, the reflexive pronoun is added to highlight its antecedent. A reflexive pronoun used in this Appositive way is called an ''intensive pronoun'': for example, "I, myself, wrote this."

In forms: see, for instance, the Swedish examples below.



Swedish examples

  • ''Jag ser honom.'' (''I see him.'')

  • ''Han ser honom.'' (''He sees him.'' ''Him'' designates a person other than the one designated by ''He''.)

  • ''Han ser sig.'' (''He sees himself.'')


In Swedish, there is also a difference between normal and reflexive genitives:



Serbian examples



Spanish examples

  • ''Él lo ve.'' (''He sees him.'')

  • ''Él se ve.'' (''He sees himself.'')