ENGLISH
REFERENCE

ourselves

pron.
A2 Elementary Oxford US //aʊɝˈsɛɫvz// UK //aʊəsˈɛlvz// our·selves General-service Informal

pron. used when you and at least one other person are the ones doing an action and also the ones receiving it. It is the plural form of 'myself'.

pron. the first-person plural reflexive pronoun, used as the object of a verb or preposition when the subject is 'we'. It also serves an emphatic function to highlight that the speakers performed an action without outside help.


SIMPLE

We cooked this dinner ourselves.

CONTEXTUAL

After the car broke down, we managed to push it to the side of the road ourselves.

COMPLEX

By examining the data ourselves rather than relying on the summary, we identified several inconsistencies that the initial report had overlooked.

Origin

Morphologically our + -selves.

Usage

Used as a reflexive object when the subject is 'we'; can also be used for emphasis immediately after the subject or at the end of the clause.

Pitfall

We did it by us.We did it by ourselves.When the subject and object are the same, the reflexive form 'ourselves' must be used instead of the object pronoun 'us'.

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