A Discussion on the Importance of Functionality in Passive Voice with Discourse and Meaning

Abstract

A core of language acquisition is to communicate properly between speaker and listener and send a message correctly. To do so, we should know discourse function and pragmatic language process. In this discussion, to learn passive voice in accordance with the discourse function and context, we analyze what passive voice is and what connection lies between passive voice and discourse and pragmatic function and meaning. There are many principles about it but in this study , there are three principles here. First is End-weighing. As we usually have an interest in and can easily accept the ‘new information’ it is recommended for us to use passive form. Second, each element such as subject or object in the sentence has a hierarchy. Therefore, it is necessary to understand their hierarchy in the sentence that is expressed with passive voice. Depending on the speaker’s intention, the agent of sympathy is different. Lastly, there is an argument that topic is totally different from subject. Syntactic Subject in English has a dual function. Its primary function is to encode thematic information.