Direction: Find the correct sentence from the given options.

2023

Direction: Find the correct sentence from the given options.

  1. A.

    He themselves took the responsibility.

  2. B.

    You should keep away yourself from pollution.

  3. C.

    You and himself were best friends in the college.

  4. D.

    She herself completed the whole work.

Attempted by 9 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D

Concept: A reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) must agree with its antecedent — a subject already stated in the sentence, or implied as in an imperative ("Help yourself") — in person, gender, and number; it can never itself function as a sentence's subject, or as part of a compound subject. It is used either as an intensifier right after the noun/pronoun it emphasizes (e.g., "I myself opened the store") or as the object of a verb whose action reflects back on the subject (e.g., "He hurt himself"). With a separable verb-particle pair such as "keep away," the reflexive object is inserted between the verb and the particle ("keep yourself away"), not tacked on after the whole phrase.

Application: In "She herself completed the whole work," the reflexive pronoun "herself" sits immediately after the subject "She" as an intensifier, agreeing with "She" in person (third), gender (feminine), and number (singular) — exactly the intensive-reflexive pattern the concept describes, so the sentence is grammatically correct.

Cross-check: Testing the other three constructions against the same agreement-and-usage rule shows exactly where each breaks down:

  • "He themselves took the responsibility" pairs the singular subject "He" with the plural reflexive "themselves" — an agreement mismatch.

  • "You should keep away yourself from pollution" places the reflexive pronoun after the full phrasal verb "keep away" instead of between the verb and its particle; the grammatical word order is "keep yourself away from pollution."

  • "You and himself were best friends in the college" uses "himself" as part of the sentence's subject; a reflexive pronoun cannot function as a subject on its own — a personal pronoun such as "he" is needed there instead.

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