[Sidenote: _Use of the reflexives._]
96. There are three uses of reflexive pronouns:--
(1) _As object of a verb or preposition, and referring to the same
person or thing as the subject_; as in these sentences from Emerson:--
He who offers _himself_ a candidate for that covenant comes up
like an Olympian.
I should hate _myself_ if then I made my other friends my asylum.
We fill _ourselves_ with ancient learning.
What do we know of nature or of _ourselves_?
(2) _To emphasize a noun or pronoun_; for example,--
The great globe _itself_ ... shall dissolve.--SHAKESPEARE.
Threats to all;
To _you yourself_, to us, to every one.--_Id._
Who would not sing for Lycidas! he knew
_Himself_ to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.--MILTON.
NOTE.--In such sentences the pronoun is sometimes omitted, and the
reflexive modifies the pronoun understood; for example,--
Only _itself_ can inspire whom it will.--EMERSON.
My hands are full of blossoms plucked before, Held dead within
them till _myself_ shall die.--E.B. BROWNING.
As if it were _thyself_ that's here, I shrink with
pain.--WORDSWORTH.
(3) _As the precise equivalent of a personal pronoun_; as,--
Lord Altamont designed to take his son and _myself_.--DE QUINCEY.
Victories that neither _myself_ nor my cause always deserved.--B.
FRANKLIN.
For what else have our forefathers and _ourselves_ been
taxed?--LANDOR.
Years ago, Arcturus and _myself_ met a gentleman from China who
knew the language.--THACKERAY.
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