Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns
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Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
Wederkerende en wederkerige voornaamwoorden
Goals of this lesson
-Understand the difference between reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
- Use reflexive and reciprocal pronouns correctly in a sentence
Reflexive pronouns
The reflexive pronoun refers to the
person who is the subject.
I'm teaching myself Italian.
Reciprocal pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns refer to multiple people performing the same activity with or toward each other.
They hate each other!
They stay in each other's house.
They talk to one another.
Reflexive pronouns
myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves
Reciprocal pronouns
each other
one another
Examples
Reflexive pronouns:
Jack decided to reward himself.
I pour a cup of tea for myself every morning.
Reciprocal pronouns:
They talk to one another.
We didn't look at each other.
Exceptions
Reflexive pronouns are not usually used after verbs like wash, dress, and shave, unless you want to emphasize who is doing the action.
He shaved himself to get ready for the meeting. (emphasis on who did it)
She dressed herself quickly after the fire alarm went off.
He shaved. ✅ (This is enough, since it's assumed people shave themselves)
She got dressed. ✅
Reciprocal pronouns are not usually used after verbs like hug, marry, and kiss. They hugged. ✅ (“Each other” is implied, so adding it is redundant)
In this sentence: 'He was feeling sorry for himself', himself is a
reciprocal pronoun
reflexive pronoun
My dog hurt ______.
myself
itself
each other
...
I always shave ______ on monday.
myself
himself
...
each other
We blame ______ for failing the test.
ourselves
myself
himself
each other
My baby boy cannot look after ______ .
himself
each other
one another
herself
Michelle saw ______ in the mirror.
eachother
...
myself
herself
They give ______ gifts during the holidays.
ourselves
one another
themselves
myselves
Fill in the correct pronoun: Maria and Sam gave ______ gold rings on their wedding.
Write a sentence of your own containing a 'reflexive' or 'reciprocal' pronoun
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