Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

I have a question about intensive pronouns, as I've suddenly become
a bit confused while looking at the following five sentences:


1. The director himself made the call.
2. Rob himself solved the problem.
3. David helped her herself.
4. She called the director himself.
5. Did you tell Karen herself?

I know 1 and 2 are correct. I think 3 is wrong, but I can't explain the reason why. Sentences 4 and 5 almost sound right to me, but I'm wondering if they are grammatically correct or not.

Thanks for any help on this one.

[YTMND]

You have a logic and gender problem with the third sentence. Relative pronouns come after the noun or preposition. Here it is at the end.

the house that jack built.
the house jack built (that?).

I think we can apply the same rules here.

The fourth has a gender problem, it doesn't match. The fifth has a "number" problem. Should be second person, not third person.

[raewon]

Thanks for the reply.

As for 4.....

She called the director himself.

Why couldn't that be correct thinking that the director is a male. "She"
went over the person in charge and directly contacted the "director himself"?

Thanks.

[YTMND]

[YTMND]

I guess it is right http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/reflexive-pronouns.html

It doesn't sound right though. I would never teach it.

[raewon]

Thanks. I found the example:

I saw the President himself.

on the following site:

http://www.easyenglishlearning.org/intensive-pronouns.html

This example seems to support my original sentences 4 and 5. But
I have to wonder why I cannot find any similar examples in my grammar
books. They seem OK, but...

[YTMND]

Probably because it is an outdated usage.

This reminds of Jay Leno. He used to say "Actually" quite often when he spoke to the audience.

Doubling up on the object seems more redundant than functioning as emphasis. Perhaps, this is due to the fact we can get a complete thought once we arrive at the object. The emphasis should in my opinion come before so that when we hear it we know how to handle the object in the sentence. You could have just put an exclamation mark if it was written.

She called the director himself.

We could change that and say, "She actually called the director." to convey the same thing.