Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable pronoun:
The king ________ gave the awards to the children.

• A. Himself
• B. Themselves
• C. Myself
• D. Yourself

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Himself

Pronouns are the words that replace nouns. In order to fill in the blank, we must understand what reflexive pronouns are. Reflexive pronouns are pronouns ending in self/selves. These are used when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same. For example, 'I did this for myself.' Here, 'I' and 'myself' are the same, subject and object, 'myself' is a reflexive pronoun.

NOTE: Here, we will fill in the blank with a reflexive pronoun to place emphasis on the person who gave the awards to the children.

Option B - 'The king' is third-person in the given sentence and hence we need a third-person singular reflexive pronoun. 'Themselves' is a plural pronoun, hence we can't use it here. Thus option B is incorrect.

Option C - 'Myself' is a first-person pronoun and hence we can't use it here. Thus option C is incorrect.

Option D - 'Yourself' is a second-person pronoun, whereas we need a third-person singular reflexive pronoun. Hence, option D is incorrect.

Option A - 'Himself' is a third-person singular reflexive pronoun used for masculine gender. Hence, we can use 'himself' for 'king'. Thus option A is the correct answer.