Principle B is a statement in the government and binding theory of syntax that applies to pronouns. It has the opposite statement from Principle A (which see).

Examples:

*Maryisaw heri in the mirror 
*John likes Maryi's picture of heri
Maryi's father likes heri 
The book about Maryi fell on heri 
Maryi thinks the boy saw heri 
Maryi saw herj in the mirror

Each of these examples corresponds to a tree drawn in Principle A, wherein the words are all exactly the new examples except that the Principle A ones have "herself" where the new one has "her".

Compare the pattern of grammaticallity judgments for these new examples with those for the Principle A examples.

Principle B is the inverse of Principle A:

A: An anaphor must be bound in its own clause
B: A pronoun must be free in its own clause

See Principle A for important context.

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