Intensive pronouns refer to an antecedent to add emphasis to it. They are formed by adding “-self” or “-selves” to personal pronouns. They are used immediately before or after the antecedent and function similarly to reflexive pronouns. There are a limited number of intensive pronouns in English.
An intensive pronoun is used within a sentence to refer to another noun, called an antecedent, to add emphasis to it. This can be the subject of a sentence or an object, and is typically presented immediately with the antecedent in the sentence. A simple example of an intensive pronoun is in a sentence like “I myself wrote that poem”, where the pronoun “myself” refers to the subject “I” and emphasizes it. These pronouns function similarly to reflexive pronouns, except that they are used to emphasize something and are not required in a sentence.
Just like any other type of pronoun, an intensive pronoun is used to refer to a noun within a sentence. These pronouns are formed by using a personal pronoun and adding the suffix “-self” or “-selves”, such as “myself” or “oneself”. The suffix “-self” is used for a singular intensive pronoun, while “-selves” is used for plural pronouns.
When an intensive pronoun is used in a sentence, it is almost always presented immediately before or after the antecedent to which it refers. It is typically introduced after it as “The writer himself signed this book” or “Those firemen themselves rebuilt this house.” The pronouns “himself” and “themselves” are used immediately after the noun phrases “The writer” and “Those firefighters” to which they refer. Although rare, an intensive pronoun can also be used before the antecedent, as in the sentence “Myself, I like a good book.”
There are a limited number of intensive pronouns in English, consisting of ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘himself’, ‘herself’ and ‘himself’ for the singular forms. The plural forms are “ourselves”, “yourself” and “oneself” and all these pronouns, whether singular or plural, are used the same way. Some people may say “himself” or “themselves,” but these are informal words and are not appropriate forms of the intensive pronoun in English.
The way an intensive pronoun is used is quite similar to a reflexive pronoun, but they work quite differently. While intensive pronouns refer immediately to their antecedent to emphasize a point, reflexive pronouns are used to indicate that an action is performed on or for the subject of a sentence. An example of a reflexive pronoun is the word “myself” in “I threw the ball to myself”. Rather than referring to the antecedent to emphasize its identity, the pronoun is used to indicate that an action was performed by and on the same subject. Reflexive pronouns use the same forms as intensive pronouns and therefore can sometimes be confusing for English language learners.
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