In the following examples, the intensive pronouns have been italicized for ease of identification. Intensive pronouns are used to add emphasis to statements. Use them sparingly to ensure that the emphasis they provide isn’t lost. Intensive pronouns might not be necessary, but they serve the important function of making your writing more interesting as well as more meaningful, particularly in formal situations. The following list contains the most commonly used examples of intensive pronouns. The reader is meant to be impressed that Jim made coffee for the king. Here, himself refers to the king rather than to Jim. The reader would be able to understand the sentence’s complete meaning without this pronoun, but it serves to add emphasis: In the next example, himself is used as an intensive pronoun. Without the reflexive pronoun himself, it would be impossible for the reader to know who Jim made coffee for. The following example shows a reflexive pronoun in action: Understanding this basic difference will help to prevent you from confusing the two.īoth intensive and reflexive pronouns end in the suffix – self or – selves, however reflexive pronouns are always objects that refer to a sentence’s subject.
You can tell the difference between a reflexive pronoun and an intensive pronoun easily: Intensive pronouns aren’t essential to a sentence’s basic meaning. You can test a word to see whether it’s an intensive pronoun by removing it from the sentence and checking to see if the sentence has the same impact.
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