Reflexive Pronoun 'Oneself' and 'By Oneself'

2022-04-16

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1
  • Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Vietnam.
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  • Question:
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  • Dear VOA,
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  • I am writing because I want to know the difference between "oneself" and "by oneself."
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  • Can you explain it to me?
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  • Thanks a lot.
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  • Bích Tiên, Vietnam.
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  • Answer:
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  • Thank you for your question!
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  • "Oneself" is a reflexive pronoun. A reflexive pronoun describes the subject of a sentence. We can use it when the subject and the object of the sentence describe the same person. Other reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, herself, himself, and themselves.
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  • "Oneself" is also a third-person singular pronoun, like herself or himself, but it does not show gender. It can describe a male or female.
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  • Here is an example with "oneself."
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  • A selfie is a picture one takes of oneself.
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  • In this example, the subject of the clause, "one," is taking a picture of "oneself" and no one else. We can see "oneself" is describing the subject.
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  • In American English, "oneself" is formal and rarely appears in everyday speech. It is mostly used in academic writing.
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  • Instead of "oneself," most speakers use "yourself" when talking about another person directly in informal speech.
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  • When working from home, one often talks to oneself.
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  • When working from home, you often talk to yourself.
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  • By oneself
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  • And now for "by oneself."
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  • "By" is a preposition. Although it has other meanings, when used with a reflexive pronoun, it means alone or without help.
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  • One could carry this television by oneself.
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  • In this sentence, "One" does not need any help to carry the TV. One can do it alone.
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  • We can rewrite this sentence in everyday speech.
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  • You could carry this television by yourself.
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  • Sometimes we use a reflexive pronoun without "by". This usage may have the same meaning as "by" + reflexive pronoun.
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  • You could carry the TV yourself.
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  • I hope these examples have helped you to understand the difference with reflexive pronouns and using "oneself!"
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  • What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
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  • And that's Ask a Teacher.
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  • I'm Faith Pirlo.
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  • Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.
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  • Words in This Story
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  • gender - n. the state of being either male or female
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  • academic - adj. relating to school and education
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  • Do you have a question for the teacher? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.