by oneself, for oneself, of oneself?

Question

Hello!My question is what 'by oneself , for oneself, and of oneself' means....................................................................................................She could not lift her foot an inch off the ground. Slowly she was able to walk on her own.....................................................................................................In the above sentence, my text says that 'on her own' can be replace by 'for herself'.  Then, how about 'by herself'?  I think 'by herself' can mean 'with her own effort without any others aid'. And if you don't mind would you teach me what 'of oneself' and 'for oneself' means with an example?Thank you!

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

My question is what 'by oneself , for oneself, and of oneself' means. Here are sa few comments.

...................................................................................................

She could not lift her foot an inch off the ground. Slowly she was able to walk on her own. The meaning here is 'without assistance', 'alone'.

....................................................................................................

In the above sentence, my text says that 'on her own' can be replace by 'for herself'. No, this does not sound right to me. 'For herself' is normally used in situations where it is possible that someone else can do the task for you. eg While my arm was broken, my husband tied my shoelaces for me, but now I can tie them for myself. In your example, no-one is able to walk for you, instead of you.

Then, how about 'by herself'? I think 'by herself' can mean 'with her own effort without any others aid'. Yes, correct, so this would fit your example sentence about walking.

And if you don't mind would you teach me what 'of oneself' and 'for oneself' means with an example?

She took a picture of Tom. She took a picture of herself. In these examples, the 'of' relates to the verb phrase rather than to the pronoun 'herself'. ie you take a picture of something.

I already commented above on 'for herself'.

Best wishes, Clive

Jisu98 · Answer

Ho!!

You know what? Your teaching is a big one. Because we always teach students like followings;

for oneself => one's own effort, without any help

by oneself => alone (feels like 'lonely')

of oneself => without any outer force or influence, naturally

My teacher emphasized the above and the above item was a usual text target. But now, you are saying that we learned something wrong.

I think, it was because we use the same Korean word both for 'for oneself' and for 'by oneself' when we translate them. So, they emphasized to distinguish the two. We can't distinguish 'for oneself' from 'by oneself' in Korean. The three are really difficult to learn. Thank you so much.

by oneself, for oneself, of oneself?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions