What are emphatic pronouns also known as?

Emphatic pronouns are also known as Intensive Pronouns because the intensify the role of the subject in the sentence.

What is difference between reflexive and emphatic pronouns?

Reflexive pronouns always hold the position of the object in a sentence and they are an integral part of the sentence (they cannot be removed). Here is an example: "He saw himself in the mirror." Emphatic pronouns on the other hand work as an adverb in the sentence. (usually come before the verb or at the end of the sentence) and removing them will not harm the grammatical structure of the sentence. here is an example: "He did his homework himself ." or "He himself did his homework."

Emphatic Pronouns

'Emphatic pronouns' are used to refer to a noun or a pronoun mentioned earlier. So they give more detailed information.

What Are Emphatic Pronouns?

Emphatic pronouns, also known as intensive pronouns, share the same form as reflexive pronouns, but they are used differently. Rather than serving as an object, they function similarly to adverbs in emphasizing the action of the verb.

English Emphatic Pronouns

	Emphatic pronouns
1st-person singular	myself
2nd-person singular	yourself
3rd-person singular (F)	herself
3rd-person singular (M)	himself
3rd-person singular (N)	itself
1st-person plural	ourselves
2nd-person plural	yourselves
3rd-person plural	themselves

Differences between Emphatic and Reflexive Pronouns

1. Reflexive pronouns indicate that the action of the subject reflects back to the doer, while emphatic pronouns simply emphasize the doer of the action without indicating any reflexive relationship.

Mike cut himself while shaving this morning. (Reflexive)

Here, the subject (Mike) and object (himself) refer to the same person.

Mike himself cut the carrots into thin strips. (Emphatic)

Here, the emphatic pronoun 'himself' just emphasizes the subject 'Mike'.

Using the Emphatic Pronoun 'Himself' in a Sentence

2. An emphatic pronoun can be removed from a sentence without compromising its meaning, whereas a reflexive pronoun cannot. If a reflexive pronoun is omitted, the sentence will be incomplete and may not make sense.

~~Mike~~ ~~cut~~ while shaving this morning.

Without the reflexive pronoun 'himself', the sentence would not make sense.

Mike cut the carrots into thin strips.

Without the emphatic pronoun 'himself', the sentence still makes perfect sense.

How to Use Them?

Emphatic pronouns are typically placed after the pronoun or noun they are emphasizing. They do not function as the subject or the object of a verb.

Sarah called the principal herself.

Here, the emphatic pronoun 'herself' puts emphasis that 'Sarah' made the call.

Prince William himself attended the ball.

In this example, 'Prince William' is the emphasized noun. We call it the antecedent of the emphatic pronoun.

Review

Now that you followed our article you know that reflexive pronouns are the same as emphatic pronouns, but they are used in different situations.

reflexive pronouns	intensive pronouns
they need reflexive verbs	they do not need reflexive verbs
they are essential to complete the meanings	they are not essential to have a meaningful sentence
they reflect back the action upon the subject	they emphasize on the subject
they are used after the verb	They are not used after the verb

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What Are Emphatic Pronouns?
- Differences between Emphatic and Reflexive Pronouns
How to Use Them?
Review

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