Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable pronoun:
They were angry with _________ for their silly mistake.

• A. Ourself
• B. Themselves
• C. Itself
• D. Yourself

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Themselves

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: The word 'they' (third-person pronoun) in the given sentence represents that the blank has to be filled with a pronoun in the third person plural - reflexive pronoun.

Option A - 'Ourself' is a first-person reflexive pronoun and not a third-person reflexive pronoun. Hence, option A is incorrect.

Option C - 'Itself' is a third person singular reflexive pronoun and not third-person plural reflexive pronoun. As we need the pronoun in plural form, we can't use 'itself' here. Hence, option C is incorrect.

Option D - 'Yourself' is a second person reflexive pronoun and not a third-person reflexive pronoun. Hence, option D is incorrect.

Option B - 'Themselves' can be used with 'they' in the sentence. 'Themselves' is a third-person plural reflexive pronoun, hence it is correct. Thus option B is the correct answer.

'They were angry with themselves for their silly mistake.'