Compound Personal Pronoun: 11 Facts You Should Know

Compound personal pronouns and related 11 facts will make your concept concrete about both ‘personal pronoun’ and ‘compound personal pronoun’.

Compound personal pronouns are nothing but addition of suffix ‘self’ or ‘selves’ to the personal pronouns.

1. I myself is quiet capable to take care of my expenses.
2. He is not going to put forth himself for the presentation.
3. Rita is blaming herself for the failure of the kabaddi match.
4. You need to present yourself as a charming man to impress your girl.
5. We are going to enjoy ourselves with some loud music and good food.

Explanation 1 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added with the personal pronoun ‘my’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘myself’.

Explanation 2 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added with the personal pronoun ‘him’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘himself’.

Explanation 3 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added with the personal pronoun ‘her’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘herself’.

Explanation 4 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added with the personal pronoun ‘your’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘yourself’.

Explanation – Here, the suffix ‘selves’ has been added with the personal pronoun ‘our’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘ourselves’.

What are the compound personal pronouns?

At first we need to know the concept of ‘Personal Pronouns’. We can see twelve personal pronouns in English language. They are called personal pronouns because these twelve pronouns take place of any particular person or any particular place of a sentence. Those twelve personal pronouns are

1. I,
2. me,
3. you,
4. we,
5. us,
6. he,
7. him,
8. she,
9. her,
10.  they,
11. them and
12.  it 

Now, we need to understand the concept of compound personal pronouns. As soon as we add suffix to the personal pronoun, it becomes a ‘Compound Personal Pronoun’. There are eight compound personal pronouns.

1. myself,
2. yourself,
3. himself,
4. herself,
5. itself
6. yourselves,
7. ourselves, and
8. themselves

Example – I don’t want to blame myself for the mess of this food recipe as my mother taught me the same.

Explanation – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘my’ and becomes ‘myself’ which is a ‘Compound Personal Pronoun’.

When personal pronouns are compounds?

A personal pronoun becomes compound when suffix ‘self’ or ‘selves’ has been added to it. There are two types of suffixes which are used to add to the personal pronouns.

The suffix ‘self’-

The suffix ‘self’ used to be added with five singular personal pronouns. Those five singular personal pronouns are

1. myself,
2. yourself,
3. himself,
4. herself, and
5. itself

The suffix ‘selves’-

The suffix ‘selves’ used to be added with three plural personal pronouns. Those three plural personal pronouns are

1.  yourselves,
2. ourselves, and
3. themselves

Example – You must take care of yourself while you are away to have your MBA training.

Explanation – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘your’ to frame the compound personal pronoun ‘yourself’.

Why personal pronouns are compounds?

Personal pronouns become compound as soon as the suffix, self or selves used to be added to the personal pronoun.

The suffix ‘self’ used to be added to the personal pronouns in five situations.

1. 1^st Person singular number
2. 2^nd Person singular number
3. 3^rd Person singular number (male)
4. 3^rd Person singular number (female)
5. 3^rd Person singular number (Object)

The suffix ‘selves’ used to be added to the personal pronouns in three situations.

1. 1^st Person Plural Number
2. 2^nd Person Plural Number
3. 3^rd Person Plural Number

Example 1 – Rita, herself is going to do all arrangements for the party.

Example 2 – Rita and Reena are quite capable of themselves to do all arrangements for the party.

Explanation – First example is an example of singular compound personal pronoun and the second example borrow instances of plural compound personal pronouns.

What does a compound personal pronoun do?

Compound personal pronouns perform below listed functions in a sentence.

Function 1 – A compound personal pronoun used to replace the main noun or noun equivalent of the sentence.

Function 2 – A compound personal pronoun in a sentence used to show the receiver of the action of that sentence.

Function 3 – A compound personal pronoun in a sentence can be used as ‘Reflexive Compound Personal Pronoun’.

Function 4 – A compound personal pronoun in a sentence can be used as ‘Intensive Compound Personal Pronoun’.

Function 5 – A reflexive compound personal pronoun reflect back the action of an infinitive.

Example – Pijush and Rana are very happy with themselves as they are sharing a good bond of friendship.

Explanation – The compound personal pronoun used in this sentence is ‘themselves’ which is a plural number.

When compound personal pronouns are singular?

Compound personal pronouns become singular when the subject of the sentence is also a singular number. Compound personal pronouns are used not to replace the main noun or noun equivalent of the sentence but to refer the same or to give information about the main noun or noun equivalent. Thus, if the main noun or noun equivalent is in singular number then the related compound personal pronoun is also a singular number.

We must keep in mind that the only suffix which can be added to personal pronoun to make it compound is ‘Self’.

Let’s look at list of singular compound personal pronouns.

Example – The lion is kicking itself in anger.

Explanation – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the 3rd person singular number ‘it’ and framed the singular compound personal pronoun ‘itself’.

When compound personal pronouns are plural?

Compound personal pronouns become plural when the subject of the sentence or the noun /noun equivalent of the sentence is also in plural number. The purpose of compound personal pronoun is not to replace the main noun or noun equivalent of the sentence but to give information about the same. Thus the main noun or noun equivalent and the personal compound pronoun must be same in form. Only the suffix ‘selves’ used to be added with plural personal pronouns to make it compound.

Let’s look at list of plural compound personal pronouns.

Example – Sandip and Rana are going to rebuke themselves for the failure of their business proposal.

Explanation – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the 3^rd person singular number ‘it’ and framed the singular compound personal pronoun ‘itself’.

Types of compound personal pronouns –

All compound personal pronouns can be categorized under two groups.

1. Reflexive Compound Personal Pronouns
2. Intensive Compound Personal Pronouns

Forms of both types of groups are same though the functions of ‘Reflexive’ and ‘Intensive’ compound personal pronouns are different.

Example of ‘Reflexive Compound Personal Pronoun’ – I am going to encourage myself for such dreamy dance performance.

Explanation – Here, the subject of the sentence or noun of the sentence or noun equivalent is performing an action towards himself or herself. Action of the subject towards himself or herself is the characteristic of ‘Reflexive Compound Personal Pronoun.

Example of ‘Intensive Compound Personal Pronoun’ – Pijush himself decorated all the flowers of this wedding venue.

Explanation – Here, the compound personal pronoun is situated near the subject of the sentence. The action of the subject in ‘Intensive Compound Personal Pronoun’ is not towards himself or herself.

When compound personal pronouns are reflexive –

Compound personal pronouns are reflective when the subject of the sentence does the action towards himself or herself. The subject of compound personal pronoun is the receiver of the action.

Example – Sandip treated himself with delicious brownies to celebrate the news of his promotion.

Explanation – Here, the subject of the sentence or noun of the sentence or noun equivalent is performing an action towards himself or herself. Action of the subject towards himself or herself is the characteristic of ‘Reflexive Compound Personal Pronoun.

When compound personal pronouns are intensive –

Compound personal pronouns become intensive in two situations.

1. The noun or noun equivalent of the sentence is not the receiver of the action.
2. The compound personal pronoun placed just after or near the noun or noun equivalent of the sentence.

Example – Rina herself is going to prepare the bride for the big day.

Explanation – Here, the compound personal pronoun is situated near the subject of the sentence. The action of the subject in ‘Intensive Compound Personal Pronoun’ is not towards himself or herself.

Compound personal pronoun examples-

Example 1 – I like to praise myself for all those excellent paintings.

Example 2 – You have to be in yourself while meeting with your new boss.

Example 3 – Sandip himself is responsible for choosing the wrong direction towards the hotel.

Example 4 – Mala herself bought the flower bouquet from the market for her father.

Example 5 – The new kitten itself learned to jump on the wall.

Example 6 – We ourselves are going to colour our house.

Example 7 – You all must take care of yourselves while playing without any supervisor.

Example 8 – They are making themselves guilty for all of their silly mistakes.

Example 9 – Rina you need to help me as I am not going to help myself to be prepared for the party.

Example 10 – Rina and Malati themselves sorted their problems.

Explanation 1 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘my’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘myself’.

Explanation 2 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘your’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘yourself’.

Explanation 3 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘him’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘himself’.

Explanation 4 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘her’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘herself’.

Explanation 5 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘it’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘itself’.

Explanation 6 – Here, the suffix ‘selves’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘our’ to frame the plural compound personal pronoun ‘ourselves’.

Explanation 7 – Here, the suffix ‘selves’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘your’ to frame the plural compound personal pronoun ‘yourselves’.

Explanation 8– Here, the suffix ‘selves’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘them’ to frame the plural compound personal pronoun ‘themselves’.

Explanation 9 – Here, the suffix ‘self’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘my’ to frame the singular compound personal pronoun ‘myself’.

Explanation 10 – Here, the suffix ‘selves’ has been added to the personal pronoun ‘them’ to frame the plural compound personal pronoun ‘themselves’.

Conclusion –

We must keep in mind that there are only two suffixes, ‘self’ and ‘selves’ which can be added to personal pronouns to frame ‘Compound Personal Pronouns’.