What does themselves mean?
Word: Themselves
Part of Speech: Pronoun
Meaning: Themselves means them; used when the people or things being talked about are also the ones an action is done to, or to stress that they did something with no help.
How do you spell themselves?
Syllables: them - selves
Tricky part: The ending is selves, because self changes its f to v when there is more than one.
Watch out for: themselfs, themselvs
Memory tip: Wolf, wolves; half, halves; self, selves: the f turns to v, and themselves ends the same way.
Themselves in a sentence
Example 1: The children tidied the room themselves before Mum got home.
Example 2: The players warmed themselves up with a short jog.
Example 3: Cats spend hours cleaning themselves.
Fun Fact
Words like themselves are called reflexive pronouns, from Latin reflectere, 'to bend back', because the action turns back on the doer.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
t_e_selves
a) h, m
b) h, n
c) w, m
d) t, m
Show answer
a) h, m. The word begins with them, so an h follows the t and an m follows the e.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are misspelt. Choose the meaning of the one spelt correctly.
1. togather 2. themselves 3. sumone 4. beleive
a) a person who is not named
b) with each other
c) them and no one else
d) to feel sure that something is true
Show answer
c) them and no one else. Together has an e after the g, believe has ie, and someone starts with some.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The twins decided to bake the cake by eslmhestev, without any help from their parents.
a) thimbles
b) themselves
c) yourselves
d) ourselves
Show answer
b) themselves. There is a t, an h and an m but no o, u or y, and thimbles would need an i and a b, so the word is themselves.
Word Makeup
Only one of these compound words is misspelt. Choose it.
a) itsself
b) herself
c) himself
d) themselves
Show answer
a) itsself. Itself is it + self, with one s; themselves, herself and himself are correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which sentence uses themselves correctly?
a) Riya asked themselves for a pencil.
b) The players were proud of themselves after the match.
c) Themselves will come to the party.
d) I washed themselves before dinner.
Show answer
b) The players were proud of themselves after the match.
2. Themselves is the reflexive pronoun that goes with ____.
a) we
b) they
c) he
d) you
Show answer
b) they
