Does "They themselves" need commas?


Which of the following sentences has correct comma usage?



a) They themselves can state their feelings.


b) They themselves, can state their feelings.


c) They, themselves, can state their feelings.




Answer



The following option poses no confusion in my mind, and I wouldn't anticipate confusion in the mind of a native speaker:



a) They themselves can state their feelings.



The supporting data of the corpus suggests that the expression they themselves is not usually separated by a comma, and since it is the subject of the verbal phrase can state, it should not be separated from the predicate with a comma.


Themselves is a reflexive pronoun, and in the phrase they themselves, it is an intensive form, which is always treated as a restrictive appositive that is not offset with a comma.



Note that they all have reflexive and intensive forms which depends on where they are in the sentence.


Jim bought himself a book (reflexive)
Jim himself bought a book (intensive)
Asjad brought himself a book (reflexive)
Asjad himself brought a book (intensive)


Intensive pronouns usually appear right near the subject of the sentence.



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