Reflexive Pronouns

reflexive (adj.) [grammar]: reflecting back on the subject, like a mirror

We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).

There are eight reflexive pronouns:

	reflexive pronoun
singular	myself yourself himself, herself, itself
plural	ourselves yourselves themselves

Look at these examples:

	reflexive pronouns
the underlined words are NOT the same person/thing	the underlined words are the SAME person/thing
John saw me.	I saw myself in the mirror.
Why does he blame you?	Why do you blame yourself?
David sent him a copy.	John sent himself a copy.
David sent her a copy.	Mary sent herself a copy.
My dog hurt the cat.	My dog hurt itself.
We blame you.	We blame ourselves.
Can you help my children?	Can you help yourselves?
They cannot look after the babies.	They cannot look after themselves.

Intensive pronouns

Notice that all the above reflexive pronouns can also act as intensive pronouns, but the function and usage are different. An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent. Look at these examples:

I made it myself. OR I myself made it.
Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself?
The President himself promised to stop the war.
She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me.
The exam itself wasn't difficult, but exam room was horrible.
Never mind. We'll do it ourselves.
You yourselves asked us to do it.
They recommend this book even though they themselves have never read it. OR They recommend this book even though they have never read it themselves.

______________________________________________________________

1. "Fewer" vs. "Less"

Use "fewer" when discussing countable objects. For example, "He ate five fewer chocolates than the other guy," or "fewer than 20 employees attended the meeting."

Use "less" for intangible concepts, like time. For example, "I spent less than one hour finishing this report."

2. "It's vs. "Its"

Normally, an apostrophe symbolizes possession. As in, "I took the dog's bone." But because apostrophes also usually replace omitted letters — like "don't" — the "it's" vs. "its" decision gets complicated.

Use "its" as the possessive pronoun: "I took its bone." For the shortened version of "it is" use the version with the apostrophe. As in, "it's raining."

3. Dangling Modifiers

These are ambiguous, adjectival clauses at the beginning or end of sentences that often don't modify the right word or phrase.

For example, if you say, "Rotting in the refrigerator, our office manager threw the fruit in the garbage." The structure of that sentence implies your office manager is a zombie trapped in a chilly kitchen appliance.

Make sure to place the modifying clause right next to the word or phrase it intends to describe. The correct version reads, "Our office manager threw the fruit, rotting in the refrigerator, in the garbage."

4. "Who" vs. "Whom"

Earlier this year, "The New Republic" published a review of Mark Leibovich's "This Town." Regardless of his opinions, the author deserves praise. The title reads, "Careful Whom You Call A Hypocrite, Washington." Yes, Alec MacGillis. Just yes.

When considering whether to use "who" or "whom," you have to rearrange the sentence in your own head. In the aforementioned case, "whom you call a hypocrite" changes to "you call whom a hypocrite." "Whom" suits the sentence instead of "who" because the word functions as the object of the sentence, not the subject.

It's not always easy to tell subjects from objects but to use an over-simplified yet good, general rule: subjects start sentences (or clauses), and objects end them.

For reference, "who is a hypocrite?" would be a perfectly grammatically correct question to ask.

5. Me, Myself, And I

Deciding when to use me, myself, or I also falls under the subject/object discussion. "Me" always functions as the object (except in that case); "I" is always the subject. And you only use "myself" when you've referred to yourself earlier in the sentence. It's called a reflexive pronoun — it corresponds to a pronoun previously in the sentence. For example, "I made myself breakfast" not "my friend and myself made lunch."

To decide usage in "someone else and me/I" situations, take the other person out of the sentence. "My co-worker and I went to lunch." Is "I went to lunch" correct? You're good then.

6. "Lie" vs. "Lay"

Dear everyone, stop saying: "I'm going to go lay down." The word "lay" must have an object. Someone lays something somewhere. You lie. Unless you lay, which means lie but in the past tense. Okay, just look at the chart.

	Present	Past
Lie	Lie	Lay
Lay	Lay	Laid

7. Irregular Verbs

The English language has quite a few surprises.We can't list all the irregular verbs, but be aware they do exist. For example, no past tense exists for the word "broadcast." "Broadcasted" isn't a word. You'd say, "Yesterday, CNN broadcast a show."

"Sneak" and "hang" also fall into the category of irregular verbs. Because the list of irregular verbs (and how to conjugate them) is so extensive, you'll have to look into them individually.

8. "Nor" vs. "Or"

Use "nor" before the second or farther of two alternatives when "neither" introduces the first. Think of it as "or" for negative sentences, and it's not optional. For example, "Neither my boss nor I understand the new program." You can also use nor with a negative first clause or sentence including "not." For example, "My boss didn't understand the program, nor did I."

9. "Then" vs. "Than"

There's a simple distinction between these two words. Use "then" when discussing time. As in, "We had a meeting, and then we went to lunch." Include "than" in comparisons. "This meeting was more productive than the last one."

10. Ending Sentences With Prepositions

First of all, don't do it — usually. Second, for those who don't know, prepositions are any words that a squirrel can "run" with a tree (i.e. The squirrel ran around, by, through, up, down, around, etc. the tree).

"My boss explained company policy, which we had to abide by" sounds awful. In most cases, you can just transpose the preposition to the beginning of the clause. "My boss explained company policy, by which we had to abide," or better yet, rephrase the sentence to avoid this problem: "My boss explained the mandatory company policy."

11. Subject (And Possessive Pronoun) And Verb Agreement

This rule seems a bit counterintuitive, but most plural subjects take verbs without an "s." For example, "she types," but "they type." The pronoun agreement comes into play when you add a possessive element to these sentences. "She types on her computer," and "they type on their computers."

As a caveat, the pronoun "someone" requires "her or his" as the possessive.

Feel free to email your boss with any questions. The Wall Street Journal thinks he or she will appreciate it.