The goal of communication is to pass across information in a clear manner and, sometimes, to achieve this, we must emphasize certain parts of our messages so that they will be clearly understood by whoever we are communicating with. This brings us to the exploration of intensive pronouns or as some may know it—emphatic pronouns.
What are Intensive Pronouns?
Intensive pronouns are pronouns that lay emphasis on nouns. Generally, we recognize pronouns as words that are used in place of nouns—that is, words that replace nouns in sentences—and they prevent unnecessary repetitions. However, intensive pronouns are a little bit different. They do not replace nouns in sentences, rather what they do is help to reiterate specific nouns in sentences.
Take for instance:
a. John himself has seen lots of cities.
You would observe that the pronoun, "himself", which is an intensive pronoun in this case, appears directly after the noun it emphasizes and it plays the role of repeating the noun, "John", without stating it directly just to be clear that, "John", is the one being referred to in the statement. Remember, clarity in communication is of utmost importance and emphasizing certain parts of a statement helps ensure clarity of expression preventing misinterpretation and miscommunication.
Did you also notice that the intensive pronoun looked familiar? That's right! It has a similar appearance and structure with the reflexive pronoun—in fact, they are the same. However, they are distinguished by their functions. While reflexive pronouns are used in cases where the subject of a sentence is both the performer and recipient of an action, for instance;
a. Mark prepared himself for the best.
Intensive pronouns on the other hand just serve the purpose of laying emphasis on specific nouns in a sentence to make it clear that those nouns are the ones being referred to in the sentence, and not another. We can showcase how this emphasis makes statements clearer by extending the sentences to show contrast.
Observe:
a. John himself has seen lots of cities not George.
Now by adding the negation, "not", and another noun "George", to show contrast with the subject, we have further made the meaning of the sentence clearer. Even though extending the sentence by adding those words for contrast makes its meaning clearer, using only intensive pronouns is enough and we do not have to depend on the contrasting words.
Pronouns Emphasizing Pronouns
Intensive pronouns do not only emphasize nouns but they also emphasize pronouns.
Observe the following:
a. You yourself are an intelligent person.
b. I myself have a lot of experience in English Grammar.
c. They themselves eat a lot food.
d. We ourselves should work towards a better society.
e. She herself heard the alarm ring.
All the examples above had pronouns as their subjects being emphasized by intensive pronouns. As you can see, the pronouns being emphasized are all personal pronouns: "You", "I", "They",etc., and this just goes to show that the only pronouns that can be emphasized by intensive pronouns are personal pronouns.
Intensive Pronouns Emphasizing Nominal Elements.
Besides emphasizing other pronouns, intensive pronouns can also lay emphasis on nominal elements—that is, words that function as nouns irrespective of their structure such as: infinitives, Gerunds and participles. Take for instance:
a. Running itself is a good morning exercise. (Gerund)
b. To read itself is a rewarding investment. (Infinitive)
It appears that the nominal elements capable of taking intensive pronouns are only gerunds and infinitives, and they can only take the intensive pronoun, "itself",and no other since they are just concepts and not humans.
Forming Sentences With Intensive Pronouns
In forming sentences with intensive pronouns, we follow the typical sentence formation process. However, we just need to add an intensive pronoun right beside the noun, pronoun or nominal element it emphasizes or lays emphasis on, generally at subject position. Hence the formula would read thus: Subject + Intensive Pronoun + Verb + Any other element.
Observe:
a. The soldier herself saw what happened in the office.
b. We ourselves know how to handle the truth.
c. Swearing itself is not a cultured behavior.
d. To play itself is a recreational activity.
e. Mark himself is a good guy.
Can intensive pronouns accompany nouns in object position? The answer is Yes! For instance:
a. We saw the man himself at the party.
b. John told the occupant himself that the rent was due.
Do you notice any difference between the first and second examples? The first example is clear while the second example appears to have multiple interpretations. We cannot say for sure whether the intensive pronoun, "himself", is laying emphasis on the noun "John" or the noun "occupant". This is why we try to avoid using intensive pronouns at object positions in sentences since it usually amounts to ambiguity and there is no need to emphasize what is in the object position as it seems to be easily understood.
So intensive pronouns are simply pronouns that lay emphasis on nouns, pronouns or nominal elements in a sentence usually at the subject position to make statements clearer. Intensive pronouns help with drawing attention to specific nouns and they are different from reflexive pronouns in function even though they are related by structure. Understanding how to use intensive pronouns effectively will equip you with the skill of laying proper emphasis on words to make communication more effective!
Read more:
- Understanding Attributive Adjectives and Predicative Adjectives in English
- Collective Nouns in English: Exploring Single Unit Groupings
- Exploring Reflexive Pronouns in English: A Guide