By...

[bagzi94]

We were doing Reflexive and emphatic pronouns and teacher asked me
to translate a sentence.

I answered: He repaired the car by himself.
She said: It is correct, but we won't use by.
I forgot to asked her why. So I ask you: Why?

[svartnik2]

That is how it is idiomatic; that is how we say it in English.

[engee30]

That is how it is idiomatic; that is how we say it in English.

Welcome back, svartnik.

♥♦♣♠ NOT A TEACHER ♥♦♣♠
As for the sentence in question, there's nothing wrong with the use of by with a reflexive pronoun. It means the same with or without the preposition.

[TheParser]

We were doing Reflexive and emphatic pronouns and teacher asked me
to translate a sentence.

I answered: He repaired the car by himself.
She said: It is correct, but we won't use by.
I forgot to asked her why. So I ask you: Why?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Bagzi,


(1) I agree with Key Member Engee: you were correct.



(2) This is a very confusing matter. It all depends on what books

you want to believe. In fact, it may also depend on how loudly you

pronounce the reflexive pronoun.

(3) He himself repaired the car. = emphasizing "he."

Maybe he is super rich. Yet he repaired the car. You cannot

believe it. So in speech, you would stress (say loudly) the

reflexive pronoun:

The king HIMSELF (!!!) cooked dinner. I can't believe it!!!

(4) He repaired the car HIMSELF. Many books say it may mean the

same as sentence (3). (You can't believe it.)

(5) He repaired the car by himself. = I think that all books agree that

it means = he repaired the car alone. Nobody assisted him.

The king cooked dinner by himself. You are NOT emphasizing the fact of his

being the king. You just want to report that he cooked dinner

without any help.

(a) The problem is that many people delete (drop) the preposition

"by." So the reader does not know whether your meaning is

sentence (4) or sentence (5). In other words, are you emphasizing

your surprise that "he" actually fixed his own car or are you just saying

that nobody else helped him?

(6) I am guessing that you were just saying that he fixed the car

without anyone else's help. So I think that many books (and teachers)

would agree that you did, indeed, write the "correct" answer. On the

other hand, your teacher was not "wrong," for many native speakers

delete the "by" when they SHOULD use it. For example:

(7) Mother: Would you please help me wash the dishes?

Son: Do I have to? I want to get on the computer now.

Mother: I'm awfully tired.

Son: I'm tired, too. It took a lot of energy to eat all that food.

Mother: OK! Forget it! I'll wash the dishes (by) myself.

(8) My respectful advice:

(a) If you are "surprised," put the reflexive pronoun after the

noun: The president HIMSELF called me. I am still in shock!!! I cannot

believe that a president would call a nobody like me!!!

(b) If you only want to report that someone did something without

any help, always use "by":

The president called me by himself. He did not ask a secretary to

help him in any way. He even looked in the telephone directory to

find my number. What a cool dude!

[Soup]

I answered: He repaired the car by himself.
She said: It is correct, but we won't use by.
I forgot to asked her why. So I ask you: Why?

It's redundant: you can omit the phrase by himself without changing the meaning of the sentence. That's what your teacher means.

[5jj]

It's redundant: you can omit the phrase by himself without changing the meaning of the sentence. That's what your teacher means.

It is not redundant. As TheParser pointed out, " (5) He repaired the car by himself. = [...] he repaired the car alone. Nobody assisted him".

If we omit 'by', we lose the full 'alone' sense.

He repaired the car himself.
This suggests that he did not get somebody else (a mechanic, for example) to repair it for him, but it does not necessarily mean that he did not receive any help.

He repaired the car by himself. This clearly tells us that nobody helped him.