Plain English

by Marian Wharton

COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS

205. All of these forms of pronouns which we have named are simple forms; but we have several personal pronouns which have a compound form; that is, a form made by the addition of self or selves to the simple forms.

These are called compound personal pronouns. They are, in the singular, myself, thyself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, and in the plural, ourselves, yourselves and themselves.

The compound personal pronouns have two uses, reflexive and emphatic.

Reflexive

206. A compound personal pronoun has a reflexive use when the actor becomes the object of its own action or in other words when the subject and the object refer to the same thing; as in this sentence, He has hurt himself, himself is the object of the incomplete verb has hurt, but it refers to the subject he. Reflexive is from the Latin re meaning back and from the Latin verb meaning throw, so reflexive means literally thrown back. These pronouns throw their meaning back to the subject.

Emphatic

207. A compound personal pronoun has also an emphatic use when it directs especial attention to the noun or pronoun to which it refers. For example in the sentence, He did the work himself, or, He, himself, did the work, himself gives emphasis or intensifies the meaning of the pronoun he.

Remember a compound personal pronoun is correctly used only in these two ways, reflexive and emphatic. For example, the following sentences are incorrect:

• This is for yourself and your comrade.
• Ourselves will find out the reason.

The correct form would be:

• This is for you and your comrade.
• We, ourselves, will find out the reason.

208. You can readily distinguish between the reflexive and the emphatic use. In the reflexive, the compound personal pronoun is always the object of a verb or preposition, and the subject of the sentence is its antecedent. The subject and the object always refer to the same thing.

In the emphatic use, the compound personal pronoun is neither the subject nor the object, but is thrown into the sentence simply to render it emphatic, and to call special attention to its antecedent.

Exercise 1

Supply the compound personal pronoun in the following blanks and tell whether the use is reflexive or emphatic.

1. He discovered the truth.......
2. The workers have robbed......by their ignorance.
3. You must educate.......
4. You must do the work.......
5. He must defend.......
6. Capitalism overreaches.......
7. The people will rule.......
8. We will settle the question.......

Write six sentences in which the compound personal pronouns are correctly used.