Emphatic pronouns reinforce the subject or object of a sentence through repetition, but are not necessary. They take the same form as reflexive pronouns, but serve a different purpose. Removing an emphatic pronoun does not change the meaning of a sentence, while removing a reflexive pronoun can alter its clarity.
An emphatic pronoun is used within a statement to add emphasis by reinforcing the object or subject of a sentence through repetition. This is almost never actually required in a sentence, but it does provide additional meaning or reinforcement of part of a statement. An emphatic pronoun takes the same form as a reflexive pronoun, which is used to indicate that the object of an action in a statement is also the subject performing that action. The difference between these types of pronouns, however, is that a reflexive pronoun serves as a direct or indirect object in a sentence while emphatic pronouns are essentially useless.
Common forms of an emphatic pronoun in English make use of the “-self” suffix such as “myself” or “herself.” Simple examples of this type of pronoun in use would be sentences like “I went to the store by myself” or “The president himself built this house.” In the first example, the word “I” indicates the subject of the sentence, while “he’s gone” is the predicate or action that the subject is performing. “To the store” is a prepositional locution, in the form of the preposition “to” and a noun syntagma composed of the article “the” and the noun “store”, which indicates the direction or destination of the action. The word “myself” is an emphatic pronoun in the sentence that only serves to reinforce that it was the subject who performed the action.
In the second example, “The President” is the subject in the form of a noun phrase consisting of the article “The” and the noun “President”. “Built” is the predicate or action in this statement and “this house” is the direct object indicating what the subject “builds”. The emphatic pronoun “himself” simply serves to reinforce that it was “The President” who performed the action in the sentence. If the emphatic pronouns were removed from one of these examples, the meaning of each sentence would still remain intact.
An emphatic pronoun usually takes the same form in English as a reflexive pronoun, using the suffix “-self,” but each of these pronoun types serves a different purpose. A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject of a sentence is also the direct or indirect object, such as “He wrote a note.” In this example, “He” is the subject and “wrote” is the predicate, while “a note” is the direct object indicating what the action or predicate was performed on. However, the pronoun “himself” is not emphatic, but instead indicates the indirect object in the sentence, which demonstrates who the note is intended for.
If “himself” were removed from the sentence, the meaning would be changed as the person to whom the note was intended would no longer be indicated. “He wrote a note” is still a complete sentence, but it lacks some of the meaning and clarity of the original. The sentence “he Wrote a note by himself”, however, uses “himself” as an emphatic pronoun and no longer indicates the indirect object of the note.
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