IXL | Choose between personal and reflexive pronouns

Select the best pronoun to complete the sentence.

She

excused

herself

from the dinner table to take an important phone call.

myself

herself

ref_doc_title.

Learn with an example

question

Select the best pronoun to complete the sentence.

Wrap-around spiders

hide during the day by wrapping

themselves

around twigs.

themselves

yourself

key idea

Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that end in -self or -selves.

Subject (singular)	Reflexive pronoun
I	myself
you	yourself
she	herself
he	himself
it	itself

Subject (plural)	Reflexive pronoun
we	ourselves
you	yourselves
they	themselves

A reflexive pronoun is used to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause in which it appears. It should agree with that subject.

We helped ourselves to some more soup.

The subject of the sentence is we, so use ourselves.

After the guests left, Amy made herself a cup of tea.

The subject of the clause in which the pronoun appears is Amy. Amy can be called she, so use herself.

A reflexive pronoun can only be used to refer to the subject of the sentence or clause in which it appears. To refer to someone else or something else, a personal pronoun, like me, you, him, her, it, us, or them, should be used instead.

Jake wrote a note for himself.

The reflexive pronoun, himself, refers back to the subject, Jake.

Jake wrote a note for him.

The personal pronoun, him, must refer to someone other than the subject, Jake.

solution

The missing pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence, so it should be a reflexive pronoun.

The subject, wrap-around spiders, can be called they. Use the matching reflexive pronoun, themselves.

$Confetti$

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Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

LL.7Choose between personal and reflexive pronouns

LL.3Replace the noun with a personal pronoun

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