In the last part, the writer will use these three metafunctions to classify the function of passive voice in English news systematically。 The ideational function will be subpided into two aspects: objective and subjective。 In interpersonal function, the function will be analyzed following the cooperative principle of conversation。 The textual function will be further pided into theme-stressing function, theme-introducing function, theme-transferring function, focus-protruding function, focus contrasting function and cohesion-developing function。 And each step of analysis will be supported with examples。

2。 Literature Review

    This chapter will firstly give a brief introduction of passive voice application in English news, and structurally analyze the formation of the passive voice and its classification, and finally summarize the function of the passive voice in English news。 

2。1 Situation of Passive Voice Using in English News

    Zeng Lifen(1994) once mentioned in her study that Svarlvik(1983) once studied the usage of passive voice in different styles。 By comparing the frequency of passive voice used in eight different types of writing。 He drew a conclusion that the frequency of passive voice used from highest to the lowest of discourse types in turn is: science, news, arts, sports, speech, novels, advertising, play。 

    Following Svarlvik’s study(1983), Long Jianghua(2005) once did another research。 The author randomly selected a number of English news from different sources, and figured out the percentage of passive voice in English news, and the result is as followed:文献综述

Voice N1 N2 N3

Active 232 95 92

Passive 73 26 30

Percentage 23。9% 21。5% 24。6%

    Of course the data provided in the table above is not exactly accurate, but at least it can prove that the use of passive voice in English news discourse is very broad and can not be ignored。 Later the author did a further research about the use of the passive voice in different types of English news, and another chart:

Voice Political news Military news Diplomatic news Economic news

Active 103 86 138 55

Passive 49 42 36 12

Percentage 32。2% 32。8% 20。7% 17。9%

    What can be seen from the chart is that the passive voice appears more frequently in political news and military news than that in foreign news and economic news。

2。2 The Structure of Passive Voice from the Metafunction Perspective 

    As an important linguistic phenomenon in English, passive voice, and its structure and use, in particular, deserves our great attention。 Traditional grammarians and generatives have already conducted a lot of research。 Liao Haitao and Wang Wangni (2011) attempted to study the structure of the passive voice from the cognitive-functional point。