Themselves or Themself?

中文

Back in the days, I suppose the majority of us were taught phrases such as “They did it themselves.” and “They treat themselves some ice-cream.” In this Ed’s Elevenses blog post, let’s find out whether “themselves” is always the preferred reflexive pronoun or not.

As we all know, standard third person plural pronouns include they, their, theirs, them, and themselves:

➡️ My students did their homework themselves.

When you have one student, it may be customary to say:

➡️ My student did his homework himself.
➡️ My student did her homework herself.

However, when we use “they” and “them” in a singular contexts (i.e., third person singular they), such as when we don’t know about a person’s gender, we can rewrite the above as:

➡️ My student did their homework.

But how about the reflexive pronoun that corresponds to the singular form “they”?

In this case, and given the current language change, I would logically use themself instead of themselves:

➡️ My student did their homework themself.

Having said that, I am aware of the fact that this form is not yet widely accepted (even on word processors!), so you either have to “stick with the norms” or “be brave” and insist on ignoring the red line beneath the word “themself” when you type it on your computer.

“They are…themselves” and “They is…themself”?

I talked about the importance of subject-verb agreement last time, and I would like to draw your attention to this grammar rule again.

Let’s look at what Peter (they/them) wants:

✅ Peter says they want a cup of tea.
❌ Peter says they wants a cup of tea.

When we talk about something Peter (they/them) does:

✅ Peter says they are going to make a cup of tea themself.
✅ Peter says they are going to make a cup of tea themselves.
❌ Peter says they is going to make a cup of tea themself.

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Edison Tam MA MCIL CL is a Translator, Proofreader, and Copyeditor (zh-hk/en) who works with students, independent non-fiction writers, academic researchers, and clients from businesses and organisations of all sizes.

He is Chartered Linguist and Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), and has undergone wide-ranging academic training in Business, Modern Languages, and Applied Linguistics in Hong Kong, London, and Barcelona.