Reflexive Pronouns GRAMMAR
Content In this lesson you will learn how to use reflexive pronouns. Learning Outcomes You will learn the rules of reflexive pronouns. You will learn to use everyday examples of reflexive pronouns You will learn to talk about responsibilities using reflexive pronouns www.english-maestro.mn 1
Responsibilities Vocabulary Cleaning Washing Brushing Teeth Washing Clothes Pay Taxes Cooking Vacuuming Earning Money Buying Food Maintaining www.english-maestro.mn 2
Reflexive Pronouns 1) Myself 2) Yourself 3) Himself 4) Herself 5) Itself 6) Ourselves 7) Themselves 8) Oneself 9) Yourselves 10) Thyself www.english-maestro.mn 3
Can you remember? By definition, a reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is followed by the subject that it is referring to in the same sentence. It is almost like a mirror. The same subject uses a reflexive pronoun to talk about itself Example: Me = Myself You = Yourself Them = Themselves Her = Herself www.english-maestro.mn 4
Remember these? MOST COMMON REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS Myself I Yourself You Examples: I love myself I can cut my hair myself I rely on myself Himself/Herself He/She Examples: She taught herself He hurt himself She did her nails herself Examples: You make a sandwich yourself You trust yourself You can help yourself Yourselves You All Examples: Feel free to help yourselves You should be ashamed of yourselves www.english-maestro.mn You all locked yourselves out 5
Remember these? MOST COMMON REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS Itself It Ourselves We Examples: It can clean itself My dog can serve itself Her cat licks itself Themselves Them Examples: We feed ourselves Me and you can find ourselves We ll defend ourselves in the ghetto Oneself One Examples: They can open the door themselves My children can clean themselves Examples: One shouldn t pity oneself One can learn from oneself Babies can t support themselves www.english-maestro.mn One must always trust oneself 6
Speaking Use the correct reflexive pronoun Example: My cat can t support itself because it s just a cat. 1) I can t help you forever, you must learn how to help 2) Holland is so wealthy that it can support without the E.U. 3) I used to hate but now I think I m awesome! 4) Nobody taught her how to play the tambourine, she learned how to play it. www.english-maestro.mn 7
Please note Thyself is noun as Archaic or Old English and while you may hear it in some quotes, Bible verses or some historic account, it s not used anymore and instead is replaced with yourself Examples Know thyself and all will be revealed - Pamela Theresa Loertscher Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself - Confucius Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others - Benjamin Franklin www.english-maestro.mn 8
Reflexive pronouns are most commonly used when the subject and object are the same, when used as a preposition in a sentence where the subject and object are the same or to create an emphasis on the subject. Examples My cat looked at itself in the mirror for two hours I was living by myself and it was lonely! You won t help me? Fine! I ll finish it myself! Notice that the most common of these is when the subject and object are both the same. Like a reflection, hence reflexive pronoun. www.english-maestro.mn 9
Speaking Complete the sentences with a reflexive pronoun Example: EX) Most people can brush their teeth themselves 1) When I was young I couldn t 2) Most children 3) I m busy! You can www.english-maestro.mn 10
Speaking Correct the errors with the right reflexive pronouns. Example: The president excused itself from the conference. Excused Himself. 1) The United States developed themselves as a prosperous nation 2) You all don t need me. You can do this ourselves. 3) Susan didn t shoot yourself. She had an accident. 4) I can t look at yourself. I m too hideous! www.english-maestro.mn 11
Examples Responsibilities Reflexive pronouns are quite common when talking about responsibilities that one has. I have to do my taxes myself now that I m an adult When kids leave their parents houses they have to support themselves She has to clean her house by herself since she has no cleaning lady. www.english-maestro.mn 12
Writing Make a list of four responsibilities you do yourself Example: I fixed my car myself. 1) 2) 3) 4) www.english-maestro.mn 13
Writing Write 3 responsibilities most children can do themselves. Example: Most children can shampoo their hair themselves. 1) Text 1) 2) Text 2) Text 3) Text www.english-maestro.mn 14
Writing Match the correct sentences 1) She is so smart. 2) I would never ski. 3) The battery of the future 4) We bought an alarm system A) will learn to charge itself. B) She learned Spanish by herself. C) I d definitely hurt myself D) to protect ourselves from intruders. www.english-maestro.mn 15
Writing Use the reflexive pronouns to create any sentences of your own. Example: Itself----> My wife says she didn t burn dinner. She claims the chicken burnt itself. 1) Herself 1TextTextText 2) Yourself 3) Yourselves 4) Oneself www.english-maestro.mn 16
Writing Write a paragraph about good treatment of oneself. www.english-maestro.mn 17
Writing Express your wisdom in an Old English style using thyself Example: When one considers thyself awesome and believes it, one becomes awesome 1) 2) 3) www.english-maestro.mn 18
Reading Read the following text. Reflexive pronouns revolve around the idea of something doing a verb for that very same something. It s a simple concept that is used quite a lot in all languages because people are capable of doing things for themselves. But what happens in the future when things start doing things for themselves and humans become more dependent on technology. Will reflexive pronouns even exist in the future? For example, as of the present, humans do many daily tasks and have many responsibilities by themselves like cleaning, helping, learning, supporting and many more. But what if the science fiction novels become true and technology like robots start doing things for us. What if they end up doing everything for us? Reflexive pronouns would become less and less common as serving robot technology www.english-maestro.mn 19 increased.
Speaking Inspired by the previous reading, explain what you think any technology in the future will be able to do itself. Ex) I feel one day there will be no need for bartenders because there will be machines that can make the drinks themselves and serve them or perhaps a robot bartender that can make any drink itself and you don t even have to tip it! Maybe then I ll go to the bar more often. www.english-maestro.mn 20
Speaking What do you think about responsibilities in general? Example: To me, I feel responsibilities are good because they make you more skilled and talented. The more things you can do yourself, the more you can do for others and thus your value is increased. In a way responsibilities are something that can help you improve yourself! www.english-maestro.mn 21