Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns - Grade 7 Assessment

Select the word that is a plural reflexive pronoun.

• himself

• myself

• themselves

• itself

Answer explanation

Reflexive pronouns that refer to more than one person are plural and end in '-selves'. 'Themselves' is the only plural option.

To make a singular pronoun like 'him' or 'her' into a reflexive pronoun, you add the ending (a)   .

Answer explanation

Singular reflexive pronouns like 'himself,' 'herself,' 'myself,' 'yourself,' and 'itself' are formed by adding the suffix '-self'.

True or False: The following sentence uses the pronoun correctly. "The students gave theirselves extra time to study for the test."

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The word 'theirselves' is not a standard English word. The correct plural reflexive pronoun for 'they' or 'the students' is 'themselves'.

Maria taught (a)   how to braid her hair by watching online videos. Fill in the blank with the correct reflexive pronoun.

Answer explanation

The subject of the sentence is 'Maria,' which is a singular female noun. The reflexive pronoun must match the subject, so 'herself' is the correct choice.

My brother and I built the entire Lego set by ________. Which word best completes the sentence?

• ourself

• themselves

• ourselves

• myself

Answer explanation

The subject is 'My brother and I,' which can be replaced by the plural pronoun 'we.' The matching plural reflexive pronoun is 'ourselves'. 'Ourself' is not a standard word.

True or False: If you can remove a pronoun ending in '-self' from a sentence and the sentence still makes grammatical sense, that pronoun is being used as a reflexive pronoun.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

If the pronoun can be removed, it is an intensive pronoun used for emphasis. A reflexive pronoun is essential to the meaning of the sentence and cannot be removed.

Read the sentence: "The principal *himself* announced the snow day over the loudspeaker." Identify how the pronoun *himself* is used in this sentence.

• As a reflexive pronoun because it's the object of the verb.

• As an intensive pronoun because it adds emphasis to 'the principal.'

• As a reflexive pronoun because it renames 'the principal.'

• As an intensive pronoun because the sentence needs it to make sense.

Answer explanation

The pronoun 'himself' emphasizes that the principal, and no one else, made the announcement. The sentence would still make sense without it ('The principal announced the snow day...'), which proves it's intensive, not reflexive.

The pronoun in the sentence "You need to be proud of yourself" is reflexive. The pronoun in the sentence "You yourself have to make the decision" is (a)   .

Answer explanation

In the second sentence, 'yourself' is used for emphasis and can be removed without changing the sentence's basic meaning. This makes it an intensive pronoun.

My mom told my sister and (a)   to clean our rooms before we could go to the movies. Fill in the blank with the one word that correctly completes the sentence.

Answer explanation

The blank needs an object pronoun, not a reflexive one. 'Myself' can only be used when the subject is 'I' and is performing an action on 'myself'. Here, 'My mom' is the subject, so the correct object pronoun is 'me'.

Choose the sentence that uses a reflexive or intensive pronoun correctly.

• My friend and myself are going to the skatepark.

• The team captain motivated theirselves before the big game.

• I myself am not sure what the answer is, but I can find out.

• He baked the cookies for she and himself.

Answer explanation

This sentence correctly uses 'myself' as an intensive pronoun to add emphasis to 'I'. Option A incorrectly uses 'myself' as a subject. Option B uses the non-standard word 'theirselves'. Option D incorrectly uses 'she' (subject) and 'himself' (reflexive) as objects of a preposition.