We all know that when a sentence uses a transitive verb as the operative verb, it’s absolutely necessary for the subject to take a
direct object and to act on it: “The woman
spurned her suitor last week.” “Her suitor
found a better woman yesterday.” Nothing really happens when there’s no direct object to take the action: “The woman
spurned last week.” “Her suitor
found yesterday.” When a transitive verb can’t act on anything, the sentence makes no sense at all.
A direct object, however, need not always be someone or something other than the subject itself. In grammar as in real life, there are many situations in which the subject can perform actions to or for itself as the direct object. The transitive verb therefore still functions even in the absence of an external object or receiver.
The grammar device that English uses to indicate such situations is the
reflexive pronoun. Recall now that each of the personal pronouns has a reflexive form that ends with the suffix “self”: “myself” for “I,” the singular “yourself” for the singular “you,” the plural “yourselves” for the plural “you,” “himself” for “he,” “herself “ for “she,” “ourselves” for “we,” “themselves” for “they,” “oneself” for “one,” and “itself” for “it.” The suffix “self” works to pass back the verb’s action to the subject performing that action.
Let’s refresh our memory about the most common applications of reflexive pronouns:
When the subject and direct object are one and the same. A reflexive pronoun is called for when the subject (1) acts on itself, or (2) describes a state, condition, or fact about itself. Acting on oneself: “I
restrained myself to avoid getting into trouble.” “They
fooled themselves into believing that the pyramid company would make them rich.” Describing one’s own situation: “She
considered herself qualified for the post.” “Don’t blame us; we
were victimized ourselves.”
In imperative sentences, of course, the reflexive expresses an action that someone expects another or others to do to themselves: “You
behave yourself.” “You
bring yourselves here at once!” The pronoun “you,” however, is often dropped from such constructions for greater immediacy: “
Behave yourself.” “
Bring yourselves here at once!”
When the subject itself is the indirect object (usually the object of a preposition). The reflexive works to establish the idea that the subject is not the verb’s direct object but simply an indirect object or intermediate receiver of the action: “I
picked some books for myself.” “She
eats lunch all by herself.”
When the subject needs to be emphasized to make the context clearer. The reflexive can emphasize an action as solely the doing of the subject (to the exclusion of everybody else): “I’ll
do it myself since nobody wants to help.” “She
drove to the city herself because her chauffeur called in sick.”
We must remember, though, that another type of pronouns, the
intensive pronouns, has exactly the same grammatical forms as those of the reflexives. The intensive pronouns, we will recall, function solely to emphasize their antecedent subject, not to act on it in any way: “
I myself found the hotel substandard.” “The
general manager himself convinced the strikers to return to work.” What intensive pronouns do is to draw stronger attention to the subject as doer or receiver of the action.
IMAGE CREDIT: TES TEACH A final point about the behavior of verbs: although as a rule, intransitive verbs can’t take a direct object and act on it, a few intransitive verbs are actually able to do that. This is when such a verb, to reinforce meaning in a sentence, takes its noun equivalent as a
cognate object, or an object represented by a word very close to the verb in form: “Although born rich, he
lived the life of a bum.” “We
dreamed a dream that couldn’t come true.”
With our improved grasp of how transitivity or intransitivity shapes verb usage, we can be more confident now of constructing sentences beyond semantic reproach.
This essay, 2144th of the series, appears in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the March 30, 2023 digital edition of The Manila Times
, ©2023 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in
The Manila Times:
When the object of the action is the doer itself (Next:
Making nominalization work for our prose) April 6, 2023
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