Reflexive pronoun

Hi, MNHD,

@MNHD posted:

'We also place a little more emphasis on the nature of the action itself'.

'I saw the man himself.'
'She got to dance with the prince himself.'

Although reflexive pronouns usually have the subject as coreferent, they can refer to any noun, and not necessarily to the subject, for emphasis.

This example is from Swan's Practical English Usage:

- I'll go and see the President himself if I have to.

This one is from Quirk's A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language:

- Do you mean that you spoke to the Pope himself?

And the ones below are from Huddleston and Pullum's The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. The authors of this book explain on page 1497 that noun phrases containing a reflexive as modifier can occur in most NP functions (apart from subject):

- We saw the President himself. (object of verb)
- She had addressed the letter to the President himself. (object of preposition)
- You will be the President himself. (predicative complement)

Other examples from the book mentioned in the last place are:
- Make sure you invite Jill herself too.
- The rules of conduct which must be enforced on the inferior masses do not apply to the rulers themselves.
- Then, in chronological order, Mr White covers the primary campaigns, the conventions, and the presidential campaign itself.

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator

I can't thank you enough for your help.

@MNHD posted:

I saw myself in the mirror.

I solved the problem myself.

I was all by myself in the room.

I brought an umbrella for myself.

I understand different usages of reflexive pronouns.

Hi, MNHD—I have a footnote to add to Gustavo's excellent answer. The second example you give in the quotation above ("I solved the problem myself"),  actually belongs to the type you didn't understand (before Gustavo's answer).

In "I solved the problem myself," the direct object of the verb ("solved) is "the problem," and "myself" has no relationship whatsoever to the verb. It is an emphatic reflexive related to the subject. The sentence is equivalent to:

• I myself solved the problem.