Themselves 還是 Themself？

ENGLISH

我們在中小學英文課上學到的，通常都是如「 They did it themselves. （他們自己做。）」和「 They treat themselves some ice-cream. （他們以雪糕獎勵自己。）」等句子。今次《「語」您講》講究竟「themselves」是否永遠都是正確的。

眾所周知，標準第三人稱複數代名詞包括 they, their, theirs, them 和 themselves ：

➡️ My students did their homework themselves. （我的學生們自己做了功課。）

當你只有一個學生時，一般都會說：

➡️ My student did his homework himself. （男學生）
➡️ My student did her homework herself. （女學生）

可是，當我們不確定某人的性別或想識別非二元性別人士的認同身份時，我們便會用上第三人稱單數 they：

➡️ My student did their homework.

那麼，第三人稱單數 they 的反身代名詞又是甚麼？

我個人認為隨著語言不斷演變，在此情況下，我會用上 themself 而不是 themselves：

➡️ My student did their homework themself.

雖然如此，我明白到現時為止， themself 普遍地都未被接納為正確的反身代名詞（電腦程式亦一樣）；所以，你可以選擇繼續用傳統的 themselves 或不理會程式在 themself 下加上的那一條紅線。

因為是「They are…themselves」，所以是 「They is…themself」？

上一次《「語」您講》曾提及過主謂詞一致 (subject-verb agreement) 的重要性，今次，我想再提提大家這一個語法點。

舉例說， Peter (they/them) 想要一杯茶：

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

當 Peter (they/them) 自己泡茶時：

✅ 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 是一名中英翻譯、校對及審稿員，專門為學生、獨立非小說作家、學術研究員，以及不同規模和類型的機構組織提供語文諮詢服務。

現為英國皇家特許語言學會 (CIOL) 特許語言師 (Chartered Linguist) 及會員 (Member) ， Edison 曾在香港、倫敦和巴塞隆拿接受於商學、現代語言及應用語言學三個廣泛領域之學術培訓。