When NOT to Use a Reflexive — Feel, Relax, Concentrate — English Grammar Exercises
She cut herself. He taught himself. They say… 60 exercises on reflexive pronouns, emphasis, by myself, and impersonal you/they/one.
Verbs That Reject the Reflexive: A Critical B1–B2 Skill
Many languages — Russian, Spanish, French, German — use reflexive markers on verbs like 'feel', 'relax', 'concentrate', and 'meet'. English does not. Adding a reflexive to these verbs produces sentences that native speakers immediately identify as non-native. Research on the International Corpus of Learner English confirms that reflexive overuse with non-reflexive verbs is one of the three most common pronoun errors at B1–B2 level, appearing in roughly 22% of reflexive-related mistakes. The habit is strongly driven by L1 transfer and persists even among advanced learners if it is not explicitly addressed.
Verbs That Are Never Reflexive in English
She wants to relax. (not: relax herself)
He couldn't concentrate on his work. (not: concentrate himself)
We met at the café. (not: met ourselves)
She worried about the exam all week. (not: worried herself)
Contrast: Verbs That DO Need a Reflexive
Be careful — don't hurt yourself. (hurt requires a reflexive)
Help yourself to coffee. (fixed expression)
Common Mistakes
✗ She needs to relax herself this weekend. → ✓ She needs to relax this weekend.
✗ We met ourselves at the station. → ✓ We met at the station.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are reflexive pronouns in English and when do you use them?
English reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. You use them when the subject and object of a verb refer to the same person: 'She burned herself while cooking' (subject = she, object = she). They also appear in fixed verb phrases such as 'enjoy yourself', 'help yourself', and 'teach yourself'. A key point for Russian speakers: many verbs that are reflexive in Russian — feel, relax, concentrate, meet, worry — take no reflexive pronoun in English.
What is the difference between a reflexive and an emphatic use of myself/yourself?
In reflexive use, the pronoun is the object of the verb: 'She hurt herself.' Remove it and the sentence is incomplete or changes meaning. In emphatic use, the pronoun stresses that someone did something personally without help: 'The President himself opened the ceremony.' It can be removed without breaking the grammar — the emphasis is simply lost. Emphatic pronouns appear directly after the noun ('The chef himself served us') or at the end of a clause ('I painted the room myself').
What does 'by myself' mean, and how is it different from 'myself'?
'By + reflexive pronoun' means alone or without help: 'I prefer to study by myself', 'She completed the task by herself'. It is equivalent to 'on my own / on her own'. Without 'by', the reflexive is either a verb object ('I taught myself') or an emphatic intensifier ('I did it myself'). A common error is using an object pronoun after 'by': 'by her' instead of 'by herself' — 'by' always requires the reflexive form.
When do you use impersonal 'you', 'they', or 'one' in English?
Impersonal 'you' makes general statements that apply to anyone: 'You can see the mountains from here on a clear day.' It is the most natural choice in everyday speech. Impersonal 'they' refers to authorities or unnamed people in general: 'They say this restaurant is excellent'; 'They're building a new school nearby.' Formal 'one' appears in written or elevated registers: 'One should consider all the options.' In everyday English, 'one' often sounds unnatural — prefer 'you' for advice and 'they' for what people say or do.