This article re-examines the commonly-accepted theory that emphatic sentences in Earlier Egyptian are signaled by dedicated verb forms. It argues that such sentences are determined solely by context, and that the language had neither nominal nor relative forms of the sḏm.f and sḏm.n.f It also argues that nominal and relative uses of the sḏm.f and sḏm.n.f are a feature of syntax rather than inflection.