Intensive pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but their purpose is different. Intensive pronouns add emphasis by repeating their antecedent noun or pronoun. Conceptualizing the difference between them and reflexive pronouns can be challenging because the emphasis isn’t always obvious. Take a look at these examples of intensive pronouns and examine how they’re different from the examples in the previous section:
I told them I could do it myself.
It was the idea itself that posed a problem, not the way it was executed.
If you can remove a pronoun from a sentence and it loses emphasis but its meaning stays the same, it’s most likely an intensive pronoun. Compare these two sentences:
I built this house.
I built this house myself.
See how the second one emphasizes that the speaker had no help in building their house? Intensive pronouns can help you express pride, shock, disbelief, credulousness (or incredulousness), or another strong emotion. Here are a few more examples:
They hiked the entire Appalachian Trail themselves?
Did you yourself see Loretta spill the coffee?
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