Themselves is used when the people or things already mentioned both do and receive the action, as in 'They taught themselves.' It can also add emphasis, as in 'They themselves didn’t know.'
From Middle English *themselven*, combining 'them' with 'selves'. It parallels older forms like 'himself' and 'herself', created for clarity and emphasis.
Reflexive pronouns like 'themselves' fold the action back onto the doer, like a grammatical mirror. When you say 'They did it themselves', you’re spotlighting independence and removing any invisible helpers from the story.
“Themselves” is the reflexive of ‘they’ and has been used for singular and plural reference. Resistance to singular ‘they/them/themselves’ in some periods reflected broader efforts to enforce generic ‘he’ and binary gender norms in English.
Use “themselves” for individuals of any gender, including nonbinary people, when referring back to singular ‘they.’ This avoids forcing gendered reflexives like ‘himself’ or ‘herself.’
["themself (emerging singular form, style-dependent)"]
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