Question

difference between reflexive pronoun and emphatic pronoun​

Answer 1

A pronoun is a reflexive one if the action of the subject reflects upon the doer. Emphatic pronouns, on the other hand, are used to just emphasize the action of the subject.

He cut himself. (Reflexive: here the subject and object refer to the same person.)

He himself cut the cake. (Emphatic: here the emphatic pronoun himself merely puts emphasis on the noun he.)

I spoke to the principal myself. (Emphatic)

You must blame yourself for the loss. (Reflexive)

Note that an emphatic pronoun can be removed from the sentence and the core meaning would not be affected. A reflexive pronoun, on the other hand, is indispensable. The sentence wouldn’t make complete sense if you remove the reflexive pronoun.

Compare:

He himself cut the cake. He cut the cake.

He cut himself. He cut …what?

You will have noticed that in the first pair of sentences, the core meaning doesn’t change when the emphatic pronoun himself is removed from the sentence. In the second pair of sentences, the meaning changes or becomes incomplete when the reflexive pronoun is removed.