English Language Learners Asked on December 4, 2021
I recently saw the sentence
She knew what he was talking about because of a previous conversation between themselves.
Why is the reflexive pronoun themselves used instead of them? Would
She knew what he was talking about because of a previous conversation between them.
be incorrect?
To have a conversation with one another or each other. versus: to have a conversation with others.
To converse with one another or each other.
We had three conversations [with each other] during the week.
The phrase "with each other or one another"is a signal for a reflexive pronoun:
Please note: "We had 10 apples between us." When you read that, you do not know which individual had what number of apples. The same would be true of conversations.
Question: "How many [phone] conversations did the three friends have that week?" Answer: I don't know how many each had, but they had 5 conversations between them.
That said, colloquially, people do say: conversation between them, but you can see where it might be misleading with my example, and why themselves is more accurate.
Answered by Lambie on December 4, 2021
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