Correct sentence??

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Hamza

#416217 Sun, 09 Sep 07 11:13 AM

Which one's the correct form:

"The people of canada are considering seperating themselves from the rest of the states"

"The people of canada are considering seperating theirselves from the rest of the states"

Hamza

Joined on Fri, Sep 7 2007

New Member (27)

hamza

Ruslana

#416220 Sun, 09 Sep 07 11:17 AM

Themselves.

Ruslana

Joined on Sat, Dec 17 2005

Russia

Senior Member (3,197)

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace", - Jimi Hendrix

Hamza

#416221 Sun, 09 Sep 07 11:18 AM

Why not theirselves ??

Hamza

Team3chopwns

#416223 Sun, 09 Sep 07 11:21 AM

Hamza wrote:
Why not theirselves ??

dude if u say theirselves , it sounds like their things like girls and stuff .
and themselfves sounds better

The sentence is about canadian themselves .. not theirselves

Team3chopwns

Joined on Sat, Sep 1 2007

New Member (03)

Ruslana

#416230 Sun, 09 Sep 07 11:29 AM

From answers.com:

Speakers of some vernacular American dialects, particularly in the South, may use the possessive reflexive form hisself instead of himself (as in He cut hisself shaving) and theirselves or theirself for themselves (as in They found theirselves alone). These forms reflect the tendency of speakers of vernacular dialects to regularize irregular patterns found in the corresponding standard variety. In Standard English, the pattern of reflexive pronoun forms shows slightly irregular patterning; all forms but two are composed of the possessive form of the pronoun and –self or –selves, as in myself or ourselves. The exceptions are himself and themselves, which are formed by attaching the suffix –self/–selves to the object forms of he and they rather than their possessive forms. Speakers who use hisself and theirselves are smoothing out the pattern's inconsistencies by applying the same rule to all forms in the set. • A further regularization is the use of –self regardless of number, yielding the forms ourself and theirself. Using a singular form in a plural context may seem imprecise, but the plural meaning of ourself and theirself is made clear by the presence of the plural forms our– and their–. Hisself and theirselves have origins in British English and are still prevalent today in vernacular speech in England.

I'm for the Standard English.

Ruslana

Plurals, Possessives, Nouns, Pronouns, Numbers, British English, Dialects

CalifJim

#416482 Mon, 10 Sep 07 12:02 AM

First and second person use the possessive adjective + self / selves:
me, my          myself
you, your       yourself
us, our          ourselves
you, your      yourselves

Third person uses the object pronoun + self / selves:
him, his          himself
her, her          herself
it, its               itself
them, their      themselves

(The sentence doesn't make sense semantically, by the way.

Did you mean the following?

The French-speaking people of Canada are considering separating themselves from the other provinces.

Canada doesn't have states; it has provinces.)

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (18,327)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Possessives, Nouns, Pronouns