I recently had a request for a video about reflexive and intensive pronouns. After a brief moment of panic, I realised that we’ve totally got this! Let’s look at them together.

Similarities

Well, for a start they look exactly the same! Which pronouns are we talking about?

Singular pronouns – myself, yourself, itself, himself, herself.
Plural pronouns – ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

What else is similar? Well, there ALWAYS needs to be a noun in the sentence before either a reflexive or intensive pronoun can appear.

Reflexive Pronouns

What is a reflexive pronoun? It is a pronoun that literally reflects a subject noun. The subject and object of the sentence is the same being. A reflexive pronoun is a necessary part of the sentence, to show us who or what did an action. It helps the sentence to make sense.

A reflexive pronoun is used after a verb and can be either a direct or indirect object of a sentence.

Nancy told herself that she wasn’t afraid. (direct object)
John bought himself a watch for his birthday. (indirect object)

Or we can use it as the object of a preposition.

He didn’t think of himself as a hero.

By + Reflexive Pronoun

By + reflexive pronoun shows something that is done alone or without any help.

I want to do this by myself!
He goes running every morning by himself.

TIP
To figure out if it is a reflexive pronoun – just take it out of the sentence. If you don’t have enough information then the pronoun is reflexive!

Take our earlier examples:

Nancy told [-] that she wasn’t afraid. Who did she tell? Herself.
John bought [-] a watch for his birthday. Who did he buy it for? Himself.
He didn’t think of [-] as a hero. Huh?? It doesn’t make sense.

Usually, reflexive pronouns don’t follow verbs that refer to everyday tasks – for example, verbs like shave, wash and dress – because we know that you do those things to yourself. But there will be times when it is necessary.

Example:
My children still can’t dress themselves.

Intensive Pronouns

Intensive pronouns, unlike reflexive pronouns, do not provide essential information in the sentence. They are simply added for emphasis. Their job is to stress the noun and only that noun.

Peter himself knew that his life had to change.
You don’t need my help. You can do it yourself.

Young children will often say “I can do it myself!” They really don’t want your help!

Sometimes we use an intensive pronoun to emphasise what a big deal it is that a particularly important person did something.

Examples:
The President herself will give the opening speech.
The King will meet with the delegates himself.

Even though they are both very busy and important, they are not sending someone else to do the job.

But in all these cases, if we left out the pronoun, it would still make sense. Using our previous examples:

Peter knew that his life had to change.
You don’t need my help. You can do it.
The President will give the opening speech.
The King will meet with the delegates.

Comments & Questions

As always, comments and questions can be left under the video on YouTube.

Until next time!