Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate option
The teacher advised the students to behave __________ during the programme. She said that she _________ would be in trouble if they created any problems.
a) Ourselves, himself
b) Ourselves, herself
c) Themselves, herself
d) Themselves, itself

Answer 1

Hint: Reflexive pronouns are used to refer to the subject in the same sentence. In the first part of the sentence, we need to use the pronoun to refer to the students while in the second part, the pronoun used shall refer to the teacher who is a woman. Keep in the mind the number of people being referred to and the gender as well.

Complete answer:
 The correct option is option c. Themselves and herself are the correct pronouns to be used to refer to the students (plural in number and mixed genders) and the teacher (singular in number and a female) respectively.
Option a is wrong because ourselves would have been used if the students were talking about themselves. The teacher is a female so we cannot use "himself".
Option b is wrong because even though the "herself" part of the option is correct, the first part is wrong.
Option d is wrong because itself is used for things with no gender. When the subject used is something to which you can refer to as “it”, then the reflexive pronoun used for it can be “itself”. In the given sentence it can be clearly understood that the teacher is a female.

Note:
 Many students make a mistake because they don't pay attention to the number of people being referred to or the gender of the people. Pay special attention to that.