[banderas]

Originally Posted by ongetz

Kindly help me to answer all my confusions with these sentences:
1. The Eskimos wear animal fur to protect them against the cold weather.The focus is on animal fur that protects them.
2. They should wear lead shields and follow recommended safety guideline to protect themselves from unnecessary exposure. The focus is on what they should do (wear) to protect themselves.
Here are my questions:
a. In No. 1, Can i use the reflexive pronoun themselves instead of them? or Can I use both? You can use either in first sentence depending on what you want to emphasize. See my comments above in green.
But be careful in second sentence. I suggest you should not use "them" there. See my comments below in red.
b. Aren't No. 1 & 2 the same??why are they different??Why is No. 1 "to protect them" and No. 2 "to protect themselves"? Which one is correct and which one is wrong? In second sentence you had better use "themselves" which refers back to the subject of the sentence.
See that:
They should wear lead shields and follow recommended safety guideline to protect them. To protect what? Shields and safety guideline? "Them" might bring nothing but confusion.


thank you so much!!Hope to receive more explanations from all of you

Does it make sense?