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Ourself vs Themself - What's the difference?

ourself | themself |

As pronouns the difference between ourself and themself

is that ourself is the reflexive of the editorial or royal we; myself as used by a writer or speaker who would refer to himself in the nominative case as we'' (normally, the reflexive case of ''we ''is ''ourselves ) while themself is the single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).

ourself

English

Pronoun

(English Pronouns)
  • The reflexive of the editorial or royal we; myself as used by a writer or speaker who would refer to himself in the nominative case as we''. (Normally, the reflexive case of ''we ''is ''ourselves ).
  • * Charles Dickens
    • Without in any way committing ourself upon this point, we have merely to observe, that we are ready to receive sealed offers containing a full specification of age, temper, appearance, and condition

    Anagrams

    * English first person pronouns

    themself

    English

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • The single person previously mentioned, as the object of a verb or following a preposition (also used for emphasis).
    • Someone could hurt themself .
    Anyone who wants a car like mine can buy one themself .
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2009 , date=January 8 , author=Samantha Maiden , title=Hoaxer, out yourself: 'Demidenko' , work=The Australian citation , passage=THE author who masqueraded as Helen Demidenko yesterday urged the hoaxer who deceived the respected right-wing journal Quadrant to unmask themself .}}

    Usage notes

    * The use of themself'' instead of ''themselves'' is sometimes proscribed,Carl W. Hart, ''Rocket English Grammar'' (2012, ISBN 1938690214), page 55 but it is relatively common "considering that singular ''they'' is unquestionably far less frequent than plural ''they''".''Grammar Without Grammaticality: Growth and Limits of Grammatical Precision'' (2013, ISBN 3110290014), page 56 Furthermore, the use of ''themself'' as a singular and ''themselves'' as a plural is in "clear parallel [to] common usage of the second-person forms, where ''yourselves'' can be contrasted with ''yourself''."Laura Paterson, ''British Pronoun Use, Prescription, and Processing (2014, ISBN 1137332735), page 170 * For more on the use of they as a singular pronoun, see they . * For information on the use of he'' and ''himself as a generic singular pronoun, see he .

    Synonyms

    * themselves (more common) * himself, herself (gender-specific) * thonself (rare) * other third-person pronouns

    References

    English disputed terms English plural pronouns English third person pronouns English words affected by prescriptivism