You've probably tried to get people's attention before. When you're in a classroom, for instance, you're supposed to raise your hand to catch the teacher's eye. If you need to interrupt your mom while she's on the phone, you might wave your hands to attract her attention. And if you want a friend to look your way, you might yell "Hey!" or "Yo!"

There's a specific kind of pronoun that writers use when they want to draw attention to what a specific character has done. These words are easy to spot because they all end in either -self or -selves. Intensive pronouns, as they're called, also emphasize the person they refer to. Here are the most frequently used intensive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, and ourselves.

Intensive pronouns are tricky, though: If you see a pronoun ending in -self or -selves, it isn't necessarily an intensive pronoun. It depends on how the word is used in a sentence. Fortunately, though, there's an easy trick to separate intensive pronouns from regular pronouns: If an intensive pronoun is removed from a sentence, the sentence will still make sense after it's gone. If a regular pronoun is removed from a sentence, the sentence will no longer make sense.

Decide which of these sentences include an intensive pronoun. (Try reading the sentence without the pronoun ending in -self or -selves.) Then, click the sentence to check your answer.

I cut myself with a very sharp knife.

The pronoun myself does not emphasize who was cut. Instead, it simply identifies who was cut. If myself is removed, the sentence would not make sense. In this case, myself is not an intensive pronoun.

I myself will be speaking to the group.

The pronoun myself emphasizes I, and if you removed it from the sentence, you would still know who was speaking to the group. (The sentence would still make sense.) In this sentence, myself is an intensive pronoun.

After Alana and Jamal put up the notice themselves, no one took it down again.

Themselves places additional importance on who put up the notice, and it is not needed for the sentence to make sense. Therefore, it's an intensive pronoun.

If you look closely at yourself in the mirror, you will see that the scar is gone.

Yourself is not an intensive pronoun as it's used here. If you try to take yourself out of this sentence, it will not make sense. Plus, it does not emphasize anyone previously mentioned.

We walked the dogs and fed them ourselves before going home.

Ourselves emphasizes who walked and fed the dogs (we did), but the sentence would make sense without it.

When you use intensive pronouns in writing, remember that they should be used to draw attention to an individual or group. You can use intensive pronouns in your character sketch is to show something unique or surprising about your character. You can also use these types of pronouns to emphasize who is thinking or doing something of note.

You Try It

Read your character sketch carefully, looking for a place to add an example of an intensive pronoun. When you find one, boldface or underline the pronoun and save your document.