Intensive pronoun

An intensive pronoun (/ɪnˈtensɪv ˈprəʊnaʊn/) is a pronoun used to add emphasis.

Meaning

As with all English pronouns, they stand in to replace determined noun phrases. English intensive pronouns are used to add emphasis, such as :

I did it myself.

Boris Johnson thinks that Brexit is a good idea. Myself, I realise that it’s a disaster.

They’re also sometimes used in place of regular pronouns, though this is non-standard:

^!John and myself went to the pub.

^!Please give them to John and myself.

Form

In English, these take the same shape (spelling and pronunciation) as the reflexive pronouns, but their grammar is different.

The English reflexive pronouns are:

Pronoun		Person	Number	Grammatical gender
myself	first person singular	First person	Singular	Dual
ourselves	first person plural	First person	Plural	Dual
yourself	second person singular	Second person	Singular	Dual
yourselves	second person plural	Second person	Plural	Dual
himself	third person masculine singular	Third person	Singular	Masculine
herself	third person feminine singular	Third person	Singular	Feminine
itself	third person neuter singular	Third person	Singular	Neuter
oneself	third person generic one	Third person	Singular	Dual
themself	third person singular they, sometimes considered incorrect.	Third person	Singular	Dual
themselves	third person plural	Third person	Plural	Common

Usage

Intensive pronouns tend to be used as adverbials;

I did it myself.

They can also be used as headers;

Boris Johnson thinks that Brexit is a good idea. Myself, I realise that it’s a disaster.

They are also used as subjects or objects, particularly in informal speech, and particularly coordinated with other pronouns, though most prescriptivists would prefer the use of actual subject and object pronouns:

^!John and myself went to the pub. — standard form: John and I went to the pub.

^!Please give them to John and myself. — standard form: Please give them to John and me.

Whereas reflexive pronouns go into the object slot when the subject is the same as the object.