§ 9. Reflexive pronouns may also be used in a different way: together with the verb they may form set phrases characterized by idiomatic meaning. The reflexive meaning of the self-pronoun

weakened in this case. The meaning of the verb differs from the meaning of the same verb when it is followed by an object ex- essed by a noun or an indefinite pronoun. eg. He forgot Jane's address, ('забыл') I'm afraid he's forgetting himself, ('забывается') Finally I found the answer to the riddle, ('нашел') Finally I found myself near a railway station, ('оказался') She came to the theater ten minutes late, ('пришла') At last she came to herself, ('пришла в себя')

A few other verbs are always followed by reflexive pronouns with which they form a close sense-unit, e.g. to pride oneself on something, to avail oneself of something.

We also find idiomatic uses of reflexive pronouns in such set phrases as to be myself (himself, etc.) meaning to be or behave as before', e.g. I'm glad to see that he is himself again.

Besides, there are a few prepositional phrases with reflexive pronouns which are to be treated as set phrases because they have idiomatic meaning, e.g. Are we actually by ourselves again? ('одни')

He was almost beside himself with excitement, ('вне себя') In spite of himself he was interested, ('наперекор себе', 'вопре- ки своему желанию')

Go and find for yourself how it is done, ('сам') It is a word complete in itself, ('само по себе') As for myself, I have no complaint to make, ('что касается

меня')

I came away and left him to himself, ('оставил его одного') We can drive the car among ourselves, ('вдвоем по очереди')

Emphatic Pronouns

§ 10. Emphatic pronouns have the same forms as reflexive pronouns — they are homonyms. Emphatic pronouns are used for emphasis. They serve as noun pronouns and always perform the function of apposition in the sentence. They can be placed either immediately after their head-word or at the end of the sentence. They are rendered in Russian as сам, сама, само, сами. e.g. You yourself told them the story. (Or: You told them the sto- ry yourself.) My mother herself opened the door. (Or: My mother opened

the door herself.)

We are all queer fish, queerer than we know ourselves. The parting itself was short but it made her ill with grief. The emphatic pronouns are strongly stressed, but nevertheless they can be omitted without destroying the sense of the sentence.

Demonstrative Pronouns

§ ll. There are four demonstrative pronouns in English: this, that, such and same. They all may be used as noun pronouns and as adjective pronouns.

The pronouns this and that change for number. Their corre- sponding plural forms are: these and those.

§ 12. The pronoun this (these) refers to what is near in space, time or conception (a), that (those) to what is farther off (b).

e.g. a) Do you know these people? This is Harry Field, my coach, and this is Jake Spring, the producer.

Take this pear. It looks very ripe.

"Look at this," he said and showed me his tie.

When he stopped talking, she wondered, "Why is he tell- ing me all this?"

"Maybe you don't want to go to this party," he asked hop- ing she would say "no".

b) Do you see those houses in the distance? That's where we are going.

Is that your son?

They ate the pie and drank the coffee in silence. When they had finished, Delany said, "Now I'll have that ci- gar you offered me."

He was deaf but she didn't think that many people noticed that.

The pronouns this (these) and that (those) may also have other applications.

1) In some cases this (these) may refer to what is to follow, that (those) to what precedes.

e.g. After I've listened to you very attentively I'll tell you this —

I don't think you should trust the man.

But I'm glad to see you have an interest in sports. That means we have two things in common.

2) This (these) and that (those) are often used with nouns indi- cating time. This (these) is used for time which is future or just past. That (those) is used for time which is clearly past.

e.g. "Why don't you come and see me some time?" "How about

this Sunday, if it's convenient?" Father had to go to Chicago this morning. I remember that he woke up early that morning. She looked flushed and well, although she had a heart attack

that summer.

3) Sometimes the use of this (these) and that (those) is emo- tionally coloured. The kind of feeling implied (affection, vexation, disgust, contempt, etc.) depends on the situation.

e.g. Will this dog ever stop barking?

Do you really believe in those ideas? When will you stop trumping that piano? He is one of those so-called modern poets.

4) The pronoun that (those) may be used instead of a noun al- ready mentioned. It is called a prop-word in this case, e.g. He found it easier to believe that her actions were those of a

spoilt girl.

He hung his daughter's portrait beside that of his wife's. These poems are not so good as those written by you last

year.

I entered by the door opposite to that opening into the gar- den.

She was a good teacher. She knew how to teach bright chil- dren and those who were slow. I was interested to learn that the cafe was the same that we

had visited five years before.

As is seen from the above examples, that (those) in this case is followed by a prepositional phrase, a participle, an ing form or a

clause.

5) That is often used instead of it. In this case that appears to

be more emphatic than it.

e.g. I'm going to practise law. I have that all planned. "Let's send him a wire." "That's an excellent idea." "His gun went off and he nearly killed himself." "I didn't

know that."

"Tell her I'm sorry I missed her." "I'll do that." "I'm going to stay here a while." "That's fine."

6) Those followed by a who-clause, a participle or an ing-iorm refers to persons.

e.g. Serious newspapers are read by those (=people) who want to know about important happenings everywhere.

Even those (=people) who do not like his pictures are not in- different to him.

Those (=people) injured in the accident were taken to hospital.

Note. Those present 'присутствующие' and those concerned 'заинтересован- ные лица' are set phrases.

7) In spoken English that may be used as an adverbial modifi- er of degree.

e.g. I did not think he was that stupid. I will go that far, but no further. He should know that much about his trade.