intensive pronoun

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.