VOA名师答疑2023 反身代词oneself的用法

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Vietnam.

大家好! 本周《名师答疑》，我们回答来自越南的一个问题。

Dear VOA, I am writing because I want to know the difference between "oneself" and "by oneself.”

亲爱的美国之音，我写信是想知道oneself和by oneself的区别。

Can you explain it to me? Thanks a lot.

你能给我解释一下吗？非常感谢。

Bích Tiên, Vietnam.

比赫·蒂昂，越南。

Thank you for your question!

谢谢你的提问！

“Oneself” is a reflexive pronoun.

oneself是反身代词。

A reflexive pronoun describes the subject of a sentence.

反身代词描述句子的主语。

We can use it when the subject and the object of the sentence describe the same person.

当句子的主语和宾语是同一个人时，可以用反身代词。

Other reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, herself, himself, and themselves.

其他反身代词包括myself, yourself, herself, himself, and themselves。

“Oneself” is also a third-person singular pronoun, like herself or himself, but it does not show gender¹.

oneself也是第三人称单数代词，类似herself或himself，但不表示性别。

It can describe a male or female.

可以用来形容男性或女性。

Here is an example with “oneself.”

这里是oneself的一个例句。

A selfie is a picture one takes of oneself.

自拍是一个人给自己拍的照片。

In this example, the subject of the clause, “one,” is taking a picture of “oneself” and no one else.

在这个例句中，从句的主语one在给自己(oneself)而不是其他人拍照。

We can see “oneself” is describing the subject.

可以看到oneself指的是主语。

In American English, “oneself” is formal and rarely appears in everyday speech.

在美式英语中，oneself是正式用法，很少出现在日常话语中。

It is mostly used in academic writing.

主要用于学术写作。

Instead of “oneself,” most speakers use “yourself” when talking about another person directly in informal speech.

在非正式语体中直接谈论他人时，大多数人用yourself而不是oneself。

When working from home, one often talks to oneself.

在家工作时，人们经常自言自语。

When working from home, you often talk to yourself.

在家工作时，你经常会自言自语。

And now for “by oneself.”

现在讲by oneself。

“By” is a preposition.

by是介词。

Although it has other meanings, when used with a reflexive pronoun, it means alone or without help.

它还有其他意思，但当与反身代词连用时，它的意思是独自或没有帮助。

One could carry this television by oneself.

这台电视可以自己搬。

In this sentence, “One” does not need any help to carry the TV.

在这句话中，One(一个人)不需要任何帮助来搬电视。

One can do it alone.

一个人可以独自做这件事。

We can rewrite this sentence in everyday speech.

我们可以用日常语言改写这句话。

You could carry this television by yourself.

这台电视你一个人就能搬。

Sometimes we use a reflexive pronoun without “by”.

有时我们用反身代词，不带by。

This usage may have the same meaning as “by” + reflexive pronoun.

这种用法可能与by加反身代词有相同的意思。

You could carry the TV yourself.

你可以自己搬电视。

I hope these examples have helped you to understand the difference with reflexive pronouns and using “oneself!”

希望这些例句能帮助你理解反身代词和oneself用法的区别。

And that’s Ask a Teacher. I’m Faith Pirlo.

以上就是本期《名师答疑》，我是费思·皮尔洛。

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。