Emphatic Use — The President Himself, I Did It Myself — English Grammar Exercises
She cut herself. He taught himself. They say… 60 exercises on reflexive pronouns, emphasis, by myself, and impersonal you/they/one.
Emphatic Reflexive Pronouns: Stressing Personal Involvement
Beyond their core reflexive function, the same pronoun forms serve as emphatic intensifiers — they stress that someone performed an action personally, without a representative or assistant. This use is optional: the sentence remains grammatical without it, but the emphasis disappears. Corpus research shows that emphatic reflexives are significantly underused by B1–B2 learners, who tend to rely on adverbs like 'personally' instead. Position is flexible: the emphatic pronoun can follow the noun directly ('The chef himself served us') or appear at the end of the clause ('I made this cake myself').
After the Noun Phrase
The President himself opened the new hospital.
The Prime Minister herself opened the bridge.
At the End of the Clause
Did you make this cake yourself?
She repaired the car herself — no mechanic.
'By Itself' — Happening Without Human Action
The problem solved itself.
Common Mistakes
✗ The door will close by it. → ✓ The door will close by itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are reflexive pronouns in English and when do you use them?
English reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. You use them when the subject and object of a verb refer to the same person: 'She burned herself while cooking' (subject = she, object = she). They also appear in fixed verb phrases such as 'enjoy yourself', 'help yourself', and 'teach yourself'. A key point for Russian speakers: many verbs that are reflexive in Russian — feel, relax, concentrate, meet, worry — take no reflexive pronoun in English.
What is the difference between a reflexive and an emphatic use of myself/yourself?
In reflexive use, the pronoun is the object of the verb: 'She hurt herself.' Remove it and the sentence is incomplete or changes meaning. In emphatic use, the pronoun stresses that someone did something personally without help: 'The President himself opened the ceremony.' It can be removed without breaking the grammar — the emphasis is simply lost. Emphatic pronouns appear directly after the noun ('The chef himself served us') or at the end of a clause ('I painted the room myself').
What does 'by myself' mean, and how is it different from 'myself'?
'By + reflexive pronoun' means alone or without help: 'I prefer to study by myself', 'She completed the task by herself'. It is equivalent to 'on my own / on her own'. Without 'by', the reflexive is either a verb object ('I taught myself') or an emphatic intensifier ('I did it myself'). A common error is using an object pronoun after 'by': 'by her' instead of 'by herself' — 'by' always requires the reflexive form.
When do you use impersonal 'you', 'they', or 'one' in English?
Impersonal 'you' makes general statements that apply to anyone: 'You can see the mountains from here on a clear day.' It is the most natural choice in everyday speech. Impersonal 'they' refers to authorities or unnamed people in general: 'They say this restaurant is excellent'; 'They're building a new school nearby.' Formal 'one' appears in written or elevated registers: 'One should consider all the options.' In everyday English, 'one' often sounds unnatural — prefer 'you' for advice and 'they' for what people say or do.