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We use 'itself' to emphasize that the homework was done today, not yesterday. Nor was it delayed till tomorrow. What is the correct way to emphasize the fact that the homework was done today?

tchrist
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Sid
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    Itself is superfluous. Your homework didn't finish itself (and neither did "today"), you did. – Mick Dec 04 '17 at 16:28
  • We Cowboys would say that we did that work earlier today. – tchrist Dec 04 '17 at 16:28
  • Or that it was all done today. The expression today itself would not make any sense to an American English speaker. I've never heard it; can you use it with any length of time (this year itself)? How about yesterday itself? – John Lawler Dec 04 '17 at 16:35
  • Interesting. Does this mean that the homework was begun and finished today, or could you use it when you started yesterday (or last week) but finished today? – 1006a Dec 04 '17 at 17:04
  • Itself is used as an intensifier, to add emphasis to a term as suggested by a few dictionaries. The trouble is in the machine itself, even the money itself won't convince me. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/itself – user 66974 Dec 04 '17 at 17:25
  • @user159691 That is a good reference point. I'd say that the difference is that in those instances the word is used to separate 'this specific item' from 'a category of items'. You can test it out with a little mental exercise, any sentence where you can use the phrase 'this item' can also be said as 'the item itself'; even if some of the results feel clunky, they're not incorrect. Anywhere that you can't use the word 'this' (such as 'this today'), you can't use the identifier 'itself'. Alternately you can use them both "on this day itself", which is a bit of a unique phenomenon. – H.R.Rambler Dec 04 '17 at 17:40
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    You can say "this very day". – Xanne Dec 04 '17 at 17:51
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    @user159691 You can only use the post-positioned myself/himself/ourselves/(etc) intensifiers for substantives proper, but words like here and now and today are seldom if ever substantives. They’re deictics that despite having been historically thrown atop the adverbial garbage-heap, do not act very much like adverbs right here and right now, and perhaps even right today. – tchrist Dec 04 '17 at 19:13
  • Related: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9189/usage-of-the-word-itself – ermanen Dec 04 '17 at 19:39
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    @JohnLawler Not used in Britain either. It is the first time I have encountered this idiom, even though I've got Far Eastern connections and know plenty of Indians. Besides, I never had a schoolteacher who was in the least concerned when you did your homework as long as you had done it. – WS2 Dec 04 '17 at 23:59
  • "They apologized for the same and replied that they will be sending the proof of the calendars and the greeting cards by today itself on or before 10:30 A.M." https://www.google.com/books/edition/Guru/jxYuDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=today+itself&pg=PA261&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 16:53
  • "Then, we can buy the rice today itself at today's pre-agreed price and for delivery and settlement in the next month." https://www.google.com/books/edition/FINANCE_AND_ACCOUNTING/0KPsDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=today+itself&pg=PA370&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 16:54
  • "This is for your own Bigger and Better benefit during this week itself." https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Journal_For_Self_Discovery/s6nTDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22this+week+itself%22&pg=PA83&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 16:57
  • "“All right then, let's marry this week itself!” https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jhumpa_Ka_Jhumka/fVJEEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22this+week+itself%22&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 16:58
  • "Why don't we pay a visit to Grandpa and Grandma this summer itself? " https://www.google.com/books/edition/One_Summer_in_Shimla/qVBqCAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22this+summer+itself%22&pg=PT7&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 17:07
  • "The Pearson I met in 1923 already looked like a hero on whom the melancholy of life's strains had left a mark. What a loss for Tagore and Santiniketan! His services would be required this winter itself..." https://books.google.com/books?id=s1ZxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT136&dq=%22this+winter+itself%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGyPzhrYKBAxWXlIkEHXXiBGMQ6AF6BAgPEAI – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 17:12
  • last week itself. https://www.google.com/books/edition/SSC_Publications_E_Books_PRIME_English_M/VJGuDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22last+week+itself%22&pg=RA1-PA16&printsec=frontcover – TimR Aug 29 '23 at 17:15
  • What does "I finished my homework today" mean in Indian English? Could it mean you finished a week ago? – Stuart F Aug 30 '23 at 13:52

6 Answers6

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The word 'today' has the literal sense of 'on this day'. So in American English we would actually treat the word 'today' as self-emphasizing.

Simply saying "I finished my homework." without any indication of time or day is a complete and sufficient sentence.

By adding to that statement ("I finished my homework today." or "I finished my homework yesterday.") you are already emphasizing the meaningfulness of the word 'today'.

A related but separate concept is whether the homework 'belongs to today'. If the goal is to state "I was given homework today, and I have finished that homework." then the statement would be made "I finished today's homework.".

H.R.Rambler
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    Itself is used as an intensifier to emphasize the thing you are referring to: I think life itself is a learning process https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/itself - I don’t see why it should not be used with today or tomorrow. – user 66974 Dec 04 '17 at 17:35
  • @user159691 Talk about timing! I just replied to your similar statement on the comment string of this question itself. I'd argue that in any sentence where a specifying word like 'this' is used you can rephrase the sentence with an 'itself' statement. But some of the results are going to feel very clunky and archaic. But since today is self-specifying you cannot say 'this today', and it cannot be rephrased as an 'itself' statement without removing the word 'today'. – H.R.Rambler Dec 04 '17 at 17:48
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You could use "on this very day." But I don't believe very many English speakers would use an expression like that to emphasize something as banal as finishing their homework.

joiedevivre
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    Dropping the preposition, 'I've finished my homework this very minute!' works better – probably because of the coincidence of the lads coming round to see if you can come and play football at exactly the right time. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 05 '17 at 00:27
  • It doesn't sound AmE to my ears to use the present perfect in that, but I agree it works much better for the homework! I had more of a context in mind where it's your 21st birthday and you get carded for buying alcohol, so you proudly pull out your ID and say, "I became legal on this very day!" – joiedevivre Dec 05 '17 at 17:49
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    It doesn't sound very UK to have to wait till you're 21. Perhaps if the US raised the gun ownership age requirement to 121 we'd have something? – Edwin Ashworth Dec 05 '17 at 17:53
  • Or say, if we even had a gun ownership age requirement at all . . . – joiedevivre Dec 05 '17 at 17:57
  • I've just re-read my comment; I should make it clear that as a Brit, I was using 'we' for the global community. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 05 '17 at 19:57
  • I understood that. Although, in my reply, I was using "we" for Americans and not in reference to your global "we." Maybe that was confusing in context. Sorry. – joiedevivre Dec 05 '17 at 20:00
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In some contexts, when there is doubt about the veracity of your statement, you can use do to add emphasis.

I did finish my homework today.

However, in most cases, you don’t need to add anything.

I finished my homework today.

The word today doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity. Unless the person doubts your sincerity, it’s perfectly clear when the homework work was finished, and any emphasis would be redundant. If doubt is in the air, as mentioned earlier, you can use do to emphasize that the event did happen.

If need be, in spoken English, you can also emphasize it by accentuating the word today.

Alastair Lloyd
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  • That's because the intensifier needed for a given word depends on what type of word it is. Just as auxiliary do works only on verbs, reflexive pronouns can only be used as post-modifiers to substantives. Temporal and locative deictics like here, there, now, them, today, yesterday, and certain uses of home work like neither substantives nor verbs nor modifiers as far as which "flavor" of intensifiers they can take. About the only intensifier possible for deictics like those is right — and not always. – tchrist Dec 04 '17 at 19:02
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Users may be interested in reading a reply in this thread about Indian English. See non-native's reply on Feb 26 '15 at 13:20 about use of only/itself in Indian English.

Is 'Single Sitting' a proper phrase?

from the thread: Something which Indian English has that is not found in other varieties of English is the use of only (@MystiSinha- I am here only) and itself to emphasize time and place. It comes from the Hindi word "hee" and produces sentences like "I was in Toledo only/itself".

Dev
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If I say

I have finished today's homework,

then it avoids all ambiguity. The homework was scheduled for completion today and I have completed it, today.

Nigel J
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I grew up in India, and kind of know this usage. I think most of the time, this will work: "I already finished my homework". (the persons involved usually know what homework is being referred to, and its due date)

If it is important to include the fact it was done today, perhaps: "I have already finished my homework today"

Dev
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  • If it is important to include the fact it was done today, perhaps: "I have already finished my homework today" – Dev Dec 04 '17 at 22:31