Grammar Tips & Articles »

intensive pronoun

This Grammar.com article is about intensive pronoun — enjoy your reading!


34 sec read
4,318 Views
  Ed Good  —  Grammar Tips
Font size:

The reflexive and intensive pronouns are the “-self” words, as in myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, and so on. These words are used in two ways: (1) to reflect action back onto the actor in the sentence (reflexive pronoun) and (2) to intensify a statement (intensive pronoun).

The “-self” words serve as intensives, structures enabling us to emphasize. We use them to repeat the noun referred to. In formal style, we put the ‑self word directly after the noun. In less formal settings, we can move it to the end of the clause:

Formal

I myself finished the report. The judge herself wrote the majority opinion.

Informal

I finished the report myself. The judge wrote the majority opinion herself.

Rate this article:

Have a discussion about this article with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this article to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "intensive pronoun." Grammar.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Oct. 2024. <https://www.grammar.com/intensive-pronoun>.

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Free Writing Tool:

    Instant
    Grammar Checker

    Improve your grammar, vocabulary, style, and writing — all for FREE!


    Quiz

    Are you a grammar master?

    »
    Identify the sentence with correct use of the relative pronoun:
    A This is the book who I was looking for.
    B The girl which is sitting there is my sister.
    C I met a man that his dog is very friendly.
    D The person whose car is blocking the driveway should move it.

    Improve your writing now:

    Download Grammar eBooks

    It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.