Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word from the given options:
When no help came from the town, we villagers ________ built a bamboo bridge across the stream before the monsoon.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → ourselves
Complete sentence: When no help came from the town, we villagers ourselves built a bamboo bridge across the stream before the monsoon. Here the subject is “we villagers”, so the pronoun must go with “we”.
| Option | Form and use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) ourselves (answer) | an emphatic pronoun: it can come right after a noun to stress that this person or group did the action and nobody else | We students ourselves cleaned the school ground. |
| (2) themselves | goes with “they”, for people being talked about, not the speakers | The farmers themselves dug the new well. |
| (3) us | the object form, used for people who receive the action | The coach praised us after the match. |
| (4) we | a subject form that takes the place of a noun; it does not come again right after the subject it stands for | The bus was late, so we walked home. |