Intensive pronouns do not: They can be removed without affecting meaning or clarity. Reflexive pronouns influence the information in a sentence. The meanings of the example sentences change when the reflexive pronouns become intensive pronouns. To separate intensive pronouns from reflexive pronouns, we will remember that while they look the same, their functions are different, as shown in the preceding examples.

How to Further Distinguish Intensive Pronouns

It is plausible that statements such as “should finish it ourselves” and “gave a raise himself” might appear as clipped conversation in a quotation or in fictional writing, but we would avoid such constructions in daily formal writing. Intensive pronouns are not used alone in a sentence: It achieves this emphasis by repeating the subject:Īn intensive pronoun also can often appear before or after the verb: (indirect object)Īn intensive pronoun is a reflexive pronoun that emphasizes (intensifies) the subject rather than referring back to it as an object or an indirect object. It can act as either an object or an indirect object: A reflexive pronoun in English is one that refers back to itself: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. It is used when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same.

What is an intensive pronoun