Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: 'Themselves' is the third person plural reflexive pronoun.
1.
You use ~ to refer to people, animals, or things when the object of a verb or preposition refers to the same people or things as the subject of the verb.
They all seemed to be enjoying ~...
The men talked amongst ~...
PRON: v PRON, prep PRON
2.
You use ~ to emphasize the people or things that you are referring to. Themselves is also sometimes used instead of ‘them’ as the object of a verb or preposition.
Many mentally ill people are ~ unhappy about the idea of community care...
PRON emphasis
3.
You use ~ instead of ‘himself or herself’ to refer back to the person who is the subject of sentence without saying whether it is a man or a woman. Some people think this use is incorrect.
What can a patient with emphysema do to help ~?...
PRON: v PRON, prep PRON
4.
You use ~ instead of ‘himself or herself’ to emphasize the person you are referring to without saying whether it is a man or a woman. Themselves is also sometimes used as the object of a verb or preposition. Some people think this use is incorrect.
Each student makes only one item ~...
PRON emphasis