1.202 USAGE NOTE

Sometimes in English the determiner 'the' is used where there is an obvious possessive meaning. In these cases the possession is already made clear by a preceding noun or pronoun. The following paragraphs explain the situations in which you use 'the' rather than a possessive determiner.

1.203

When you refer to a specific part of someone's body, you normally use a possessive determiner.

• She has something on her feet and a bag in her hand.
• Nancy suddenly took my arm.
• They can't turn their heads.
• She thanked him shyly and patted his arm.
• I opened the cupboard and they fell on my head.
• He shook his head.

However, when you are describing an action which someone does to a part of someone else's body, you often use the definite article, especially when the body part is the object of a preposition and when the object of the verb is a pronoun. For example, if you say 'She hit me on the head', 'head' is the object of the preposition 'on' and 'me' is object of the verb 'hit'.

• He took her by the arm.
• ...so I encouraged him and I patted him on the head.
• She hit him smartly and swiftly on the head.
• He took her by the arm and began drawing her firmly but gently away.

You use the definite article because the 'owner' of the body part has already been identified, and you do not need to repeat this information.

Similarly, if the object of the verb is a reflexive pronoun such as 'myself', 'yourself', and so on, you use the definite article. This is because the reflexive pronoun already refers to you or to the person who is doing the action, so you do not need to repeat this information by using a possessive determiner.

• Andrew laughed, hitting himself on the knee.
• We can pat ourselves on the back for bringing up our children.

Uses of reflexive pronouns are explained in paragraphs 1.115 to 1.122.

1.204

If you want to describe something that you do to yourself or that someone else does to themselves, you normally use a possessive determiner.

• She was brushing her hair.
• 'I'm going to brush my teeth,' he said.
• She gritted her teeth and carried on.
• He walked into the kitchen and shook his head.