Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns (GG.4-6)

Personal Pronouns (Review)

• Personal pronouns are pronouns that are used to replace people, places, or things in a sentence.

• Personal pronouns can be in first, second, or third person.

• Personal pronouns can be singular or plural​.

Reflexive Pronouns

• Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that end in -self or -selves.

• A reflexive pronoun is used to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause in which it appears. It should agree with that subject.

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Examples:

We helped ourselves to some more soup.​

After the guests left, Amy made herself a cup of tea.

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A reflexive pronoun is used to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause in which it appears. It should agree with that subject.

Reflexive Pronouns

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Reflexive Pronouns

• A reflexive pronoun can only be used to refer to the subject of the sentence or clause in which it appears.

​Jake wrote a note for himself.

• The reflexive pronoun, himself, refers back to the subject, Jake.​

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Jake wrote a note for him.

• The personal pronoun, him, must refer to someone other than the subject, Jake.

• Intensive pronouns emphasize, or intensify, the noun or pronoun they refer to. They can refer to any noun or pronoun in the sentence, not just a subject.

• Intensive pronouns are used for emphasis only — they are not objects of verbs or prepositions.

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Examples:

No one else was home, so I brought in the groceries myself.

The intensive pronoun myself emphasizes the pronoun I.

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After waiting all afternoon, we were finally able to meet the queen herself.

The intensive pronoun herself emphasizes the noun queen.

Intensive Pronouns

• One way to tell if a pronoun is reflexive or intensive is to try replacing it with an object pronoun, like me, her, or us.

  • If you can replace it with an object pronoun and still have a complete sentence, it is reflexive.

  • If you can't, it is intensive.

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Reflexive vs. Intensive Pronouns

​Did Sarah save any of the cookies for herself?

Did Sarah save any of the cookies for him?

• You can replace herself with the object pronoun him and still have a sentence. This tells you that the pronoun is reflexive.

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No one else was home, so I brought in the groceries myself.

No one else was home, so I brought in the groceries her.

• You can't replace myself with the object pronoun her. The second sentence doesn't work. This tells you that the pronoun is intensive.​

Reflexive vs. Intensive Pronouns