“Jane taught Mary to see [her|herself] as a victim.”

Pronouns

Many people use “myself” when they should use “me”.

For example, they might say to someone else, “Please send it to myself.” (even though “Please send it to me.” is the correct form).

I love examples that will teach how the “self” pronouns are NOT interchangeable with the non-“self” pronouns.

Here is one such example.

Think about these two sentences:

  1. “Jane taught Mary to see herself as a victim.”
  2. “Jane taught Mary to see her as a victim.”

Jane taught Mary something in each sentence.

Given that the object of “to see” in both sentences is a female pronoun — “herself” or “her” — we know that Jane taught Mary about seeing a female.

What female is being seen as a victim in sentence #1?

The phrase “taught Mary to see herself” in sentence #1 tells us that Mary is seeing Mary as a victim.

Who is the female to which “her” refers in sentence #2?

There are two possible right answers and one wrong answer.

The wrong answer is Mary.

Without “herself” in “taught Mary to see ___ as a victim”, there is no implication of reflexivity for Mary.

The two possible right answers are Jane and a third female.

“Jane taught Mary to see her as a victim.” as a standalone sentence implies that Jane taught Mary to see Jane as a victim. We have no context for a third female, so we must conclude that Mary sees Jane as the victim.

If “Jane and Mary were discussing Sue.” immediately preceded “Jane taught Mary to see her as a victim.”, then the correct answer regarding “her” would be that Jane taught Mary to see Sue as a victim.