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Reflexive Vs. Intensive Pronouns

April 25, 2013

Are you yourself confused by reflexive pronouns being used intensively, or is it only your students who are confused?

As we were working on the Gerald R. Ford lesson this week at ESL Library, the topic of intensive pronouns came up because of this sentence:

“President Nixon himself resigned a year later due to his involvement in an illegal cover‑up related to his re‑election campaign.”

This got us talking about reflexive pronouns that are specifically used for emphasis, which are known as intensive pronouns. But what are the differences in usage and sentence position between reflexive pronouns in general and intensive pronouns? Here is the breakdown for teaching these pronouns to your students:

Reflexive Pronouns

Usage

Reflexive pronouns reflect the subject of the verb. Use these pronouns when the subject and object of the verb are the same person.

Sentence Position

Reflexive pronouns are most often found in the object position. They can also appear in an indirect object position, meaning they can follow a preposition.

Examples

  • We asked ourselves if the new system would actually work. (direct object)
  • I really hurt myself this morning when I fell down the stairs. (direct object)
  • She looked at herself in the mirror for hours. (indirect object)
  • They think of themselves as upstanding members of the community. (indirect object)

Intensive Pronouns

Usage

Intensive pronouns are reflexive pronouns that are used to emphasize the subject or object noun.

Sentence Position

Intensive pronouns are usually appositive, meaning they follow the subject directly. They can also follow an object.

Examples

  • President Nixon himself resigned a year later due to his involvement in an illegal cover-up related to his re‑election campaign.
  • Even though everyone expected her to know it already, she herself was surprised by the news.
  • I am not a very punctual person myself.
  • You don’t need help. You can do it yourself.

Summary

Reflexive pronouns are the object or indirect object of the main verb, and therefore will follow the verb. Intensive pronouns will never appear in an object position; they will follow a noun (appositive).

Compare the following sentences to make the distinction crystal clear:

  • I cut myself. (Reflexive; myself is the object of the verb cut; I did this action to myself.)
  • I cut her hair myself. (Intensive; my hair is the object of the verb cut; myself emphasizes the subject I because it’s surprising/unexpected that I cut her hair since I’m not a hairdresser.)
Note

A preposition isn’t enough to determine whether a pronoun is reflexive or intensive. The important thing is to look for the object. Remember, if there is another object, the pronoun is probably intensive.

  • Why were you staring at yourself in the mirror? (Reflexive; at yourself is the indirect object of the verb were staring.)
  • You can do it by yourself (Intensive; it is the object of the verb do.)

I myself hope that you’ve enjoyed this post!

Tanya

Sources

  • Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, section 5.49.
  • Collins Cobuild English Grammar, section 1.121.
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Comments (39)

Tara Benwell(Author)

While we're on this topic, can you give us any tips about oneself vs. one's self?

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

My pleasure. In the US, it's a situation similar to 'cannot / can not', where both spellings are acceptable but the first is preferred. Merriam-Webster lists the entry as 'oneself, also one's self'. When MW uses 'also', it means the second word 'occurs appreciably less often and thus is considered a secondary variant'. So I recommend always writing 'oneself'.

As for Canada and the UK, the Oxford Canadian and the Oxford Dictionary both only list 'oneself' and not the variant form. 'Oneself' looks like the correct option all around! :)

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Here's another interesting point! In most dictionaries like Merriam-Webster, an entry that lists 'also' + another form means the form is a secondary variant and the first form is definitely preferred and is more common.

But did you know that when an entry lists 'or' + a second form, those two forms are pretty much equal variants? It's more a matter of personal choice. Note that if the words joined by 'or' are not in alphabetical order, the first is slightly more common than the second.

Am I the only one who finds this interesting? ;)

joann candelario(Guest)

thank y0u so much f0r the inf0rmation.it really helped me a l0t on my teaching to explain further my understanding towards the t0pic.a lot of thanks

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Happy to hear it, Joann! Thanks for your comment.

joann candelario(Guest)

One m0re thing, is there any word such as 'equipments'?

Tanya Trusler(Author)

No, I've never heard 'equipment' used as a plural form. Some non-count/plural nouns can do this to emphasize different types (foods, peoples, etc.), but I've never seen 'equipments' before.

Cheryl V(Guest)

Thank you for sharing your ideas Miss Tanya. I was clarified on how to make this lesson easier for my students to understand.

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Thank you, Cheryl! I'm glad this post helped. :)

leonora aguilar(Guest)

Thank you very much Ma'am Tanya. It indeed a great help in my teaching. I am clarified. Thank you ma'am.

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

You're very welcome, Leonora!

hassan yehis(Guest)

does the intensive pronoun has to follow the subject or object directly?

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

You've got it, Hassan! An intensive pronoun follows the subject or object (noun) directly, whereas a reflexive pronoun follows a verb or a preposition.

RICA MIÑOZA(Guest)

What are the similarities between them?

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Rica,

Reflexive and intensive pronouns are similar in both form (spelled the same way) and meaning (mean the same thing). The differences are in the usage and sentence positions.

Ynah (Guest)

Hi! Thanks for this post. How about the sentence 'The special bus they built travels at 70kmph when driven by itself?' Is itself a reflexive or intensive pronoun? Thanks! :)

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    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    That would be a reflexive pronoun because the subject and object are the same noun (bus) and it follows a preposition (by). However, this sentence sounds a little strange to me because buses are usually driven by people. Maybe 'The special bus they built travels at 70 km/h on autopilot' would be clearer?

    midathana.siva (Guest)

    i know myself vnderstood

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Happy to hear it!

    It would be more natural to say 'I myself understand this now' or 'I understand this now myself.' :)

    Janine (Guest)

    What if the statement goes this way: Emma, did you take the photo by yourself? How do we consider the word yourself?

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Janine,

    In your sentence 'Emma, did you take the photo by yourself?' yourself is an intensive pronoun. The trick is to look for another object (the photo). If there is another object, it's usually an intensive pronoun.

    If there isn't another object, it's usually a reflexive pronoun, as in 'Emma, did you take a photo of yourself?'

    Nat (Guest)

    Isn't 'the photo' still the object in Emma, did you take the photo of yourself'?

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Nat,

    In that sentence, 'the photo of yourself' is the object. I see how it's confusing! Think of it this way: 'Emma, did you take a photo of yourself by yourself?' The object 'a photo of yourself' uses a reflexive pronoun, while 'by yourself' is an intensive pronoun.

    student (Guest)

    I heard once that if you could remove the pronoun and have a meaningful sentence then it is intensive if not then it is reflexive, is that true? If yes does it always work?

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    That's a good general rule and will help you remember which is which for the most part. But like most rules in English, it won't always work. If you look at all the examples in this post, it works most of the time, but here are some where it doesn't:

    • You can do it by yourself. (Intensive, but you can't simply remove 'by'—you could remove 'by yourself,' though)
    • We asked ourselves if the new system would actually work. (Reflexive, but you can remove 'ourselves' here, though the meaning could then be that we asked ourselves or we asked others)

    Darlene Mae(Guest)

    Is it possible to use both in one sentence? If yes, could you please give an example?

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Darlene,

    While I believe it would be possible, I think most sentences that used both a reflexive and intensive pronoun together would be awkward. I'll give it a go, though I wouldn't recommend doing it: 'When we asked ourselves if we should lay people off, I got so upset that I myself wanted to quit.' (ourselves = reflexive, myself = intensive)

    Joemar Gagnao(Guest)

    Thank you so much Miss Tanya for sharing your ideas. You have given me a wide spectrum to really differentiate and understand between reflexive and intensive pronouns. I can now teach it very well to my students here in the Philippines.

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Thank you for your kind words, Joemar!

    Charlise R.(Teacher)

    You are definitely not the only one who finds this interesting. I'm perusing your blog in my 'off' hours. Thanks for your comments. I enjoy ESL library immensely, and my students are becoming grammar whizzes!
    ⭐️

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Charlise,

    I'm so happy to hear you and your students enjoy the site! I'm also happy to know there are other fellow grammar lovers out there!

    Emma J(Guest)

    I'm confused. I watched a video last night but they said that when using the word by it is REFLEXIVE.

    Is it always intensive if reflexive pronouns are followed by the word "by"?
    by yourself, by myself, by themselves

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Emma, I would say that yes, if the preposition "by" comes before the pronoun, it would always (or almost always) be intensive. I can't think of an example where by + pronoun would be reflexive! When you use "by + pronoun," you would normally be emphasizing that something was done by that person. (Remember intense = intensity/emphasis, and reflexive = reflecting/mirroring.) It's possible that the people who made the video you watched got these types of pronouns confused. It's definitely a confusing topic!

    Forrest Gump(Guest)

    " I cut her hair myself. (Intensive; my hair is the object of the verb cut; myself emphasizes the subject I because it’s surprising that I cut her hair since I’m not a hairdresser.)"
    Link :https://ellii.com/blog/reflexive-vs-intensive-pronouns/

    Dear Sir / Mam

    The above reference is taken from the said link of your web page and it is mentioned that "because it’s surprising that I cut her hair since I’m not a hairdresser" but the thing is intensive pronoun has nothing to do with the word " surprise".
    In the world of grammar if any sentence surprises someone then that sentence is called " Exclamatory sentence "

    Sentence No1 : I cut her hair myself.

    In the above sentence the word " myself " is intensive because the subject of the sentence does not do any work on the word " myself" but instead the subject does work on direct object " hair" .
    In the case of reflexive pronoun the subject does an action not on others but on himself or herself etc.

    Sentence No 2 : We asked ourselves if the new system would actually work.

    in the above sentence you said the word " ourselves" is indirect object but in fact it is the Direct Object, the rule is if there is not any direct object in the sentence then the indirect object becomes the direct object, so the word " myself" is the direct object.

    I also want to mention that I really loved the explanation about these pronouns. I think i am not a perfect person in grammar but if you have better suggestion on this issue then i would love to correct my misunderstandings.
    Thank you to give me an opportunity to write you grammar buddies.

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Thanks for your insightful comment. For sentence 1, I use the word "surprise" to mean unexpected. In fact, the meaning of "intensive" is from the word "intense," which means to emphasize, especially if a situation is unexpected or surprising. For example, if I was a hairdresser, I would just say "I cut her hair." But if I wasn't a hairdresser and the listener wasn't expecting me to be cutting someone's hair, an intensive pronoun can be used to emphasize this fact: "I cut her hair myself."

    For sentence 2, I said "Reflexive pronouns are most often found in the object position. They can also appear in an indirect object position, meaning they can follow a preposition." In the examples that follow that paragraph, the first two are direct objects and the second two are indirect objects. So I meant that "ourselves" was a direct object in "We asked ourselves." I'm sorry that wasn't clear. I'll add parenthetical information to clarify this in the post.

    Rosana Batac(Guest)

    I hope you can help me too. I am a junior high school teacher. My question is about Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns. For example, the sentence is "The doctor, together with his nurses, work _________ laboriously." What will I consider as the subject? If doctor, the answer will be himself but if with his nurses, should be themselves. I am looking for a rule about intervening expressions. Is it the same rule as with Subject-Verb Agreement. Thank you for your reply. Appreciate it much.

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    Hi Rosana, great question!

    Subjects that use connectives like "together with" or "as well as" can be tricky. For these, we follow The Chicago Manual of Style guidelines and make these subjects singular. However, it doesn't sound natural to use a reflexive or intensive pronoun in your example. The best sentence would be this: "The doctor, together with his nurses, works laboriously." (singular verb, no pronoun)

    If you used this connective with an expression involving a reflexive pronoun, you would use the singular pronoun. For example: "The doctor, together with his nurses, works himself to the bone." Even here, though, the singular reflexive pronoun calls attention to only half the subject, and I'd suggest rewording to this for clarity: "The doctor and his nurses work themselves to the bone."

    Here is the excerpt from The Chicago Manual of Style (5.142) about connectives:
    "Adding to a singular subject by using a phrasal connective such as along with, as well as, in addition to, together with, and the like does not make the subject plural. This type of distraction can be doubly misleading because the intervening material seems to create a compound subject, and the modifying prepositional phrase may itself contain one or more plural objects. If the singular verb sounds awkward in such a sentence, try the conjunction and instead:

    • Poor: The bride as well as her bridesmaids were dressed in mauve.
    • Better: The bride as well as her bridesmaids was dressed in mauve.
    • Best: The bride and her bridesmaids were dressed in mauve."

    Tce E.(Teacher)

    thank you this will help my ESL students a bunch!!

    Reply to Comment

    Tanya Trusler(Author)

    That's great to hear!

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