Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate pronoun:
My son and my daughter are very fond of _____________.
a) herself
b) each other
c) themselves
d) himself

Answer 1

Hint: The plural subject matches with a certain reflexive pronoun. The pronoun equivalent of the given subject is ‘they’. It is a pair that cannot be edited in any way, any other reflexive would be grammatically incorrect.

Complete answer:
 Nouns are naming words. However, one cannot use nouns all the time. So, there are placeholder words that replace nouns, called pronouns. Words like ‘I’, ‘You’, ‘She’, ‘He’, and ‘They’ are pronouns.
There are also words like ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘herself’, ‘himself’, and ‘themselves’ which are
called reflexive pronouns, also called emphatic pronouns. They match with certain pronouns and can only be used with their correct partner. So, we have to find the reflexive that matches with the given pronoun. The subject in the given sentence is ‘my son and my daughter’. This can be replaced with the pronoun ‘they’.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options-
a) herself - This reflexive goes with the pronouns ‘she/her’. It would be grammatically incorrect to use this, and using it would change the meaning of the sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) each other - This reflexive is used when talking about things between people. It would be grammatically incorrect to use this, and using it would change the meaning of the sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) themselves - This reflexive goes with the pronouns ‘they/them’. It would be grammatically correct to use this, and using it would retain the original meaning of the sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
d) himself - This reflexive goes with the pronouns ‘he/him’. It would be grammatically incorrect to use this, and using it would change the meaning of the sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
Understand the meaning of the given sentence as the context of the sentence will help you to reach the correct and required conclusion. Try to match the pronoun in the given sentence to the appropriate one in the given options.