Abstract: The passive voice is widespread in all kinds of discourse, including business English texts. This paper aims to study the pragmatic functions of passive voice in business English correspondence. As we know, there are three categories of passive voice in business English: passive sentences with doer, passive sentences without doer, and passive sentences with “it” as subject. It presents that the second one and third one, that is passive voice without doer and with “it” as the subject, are two representative forms to be applied to research pragmatic functions. In business English correspondence, appliance of passive voice is related to two major principles of pragmatic guidance session, that is “Cooperative Principle” and “Politeness Principle”. To some degrees, it is a better way to learn how the language express information needs appropriately. As a result, three functions are concluded: objectiveness, politeness and simplicity. To sum up, the findings in this paper may help students better comprehend the appliance of passive voice. When learning business English, learners should know how to achieve their communicative intentions by using passive voice appropriately when necessary.

Key words: business English correspondence; passive voice; function

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework1

2.1 Cooperative Principle

  2.1.1 Introduction to Cooperative Principle

  2.1.2 Maxims of Cooperative Principle

2.2 Politeness Principle 

  2.2.1 Introduction to Politeness Principle

  2.2.2 Maxims of Politeness Principle

2.3 Research Status

  2.3.1 Current Study Abroad

  2.3.2 Current Study Domestic

3. Three Types of Passive Voice in Business English Correspondence.5

3.1 Passive Voice with Doer 

3.2 Passive Voice without Doer

3.3 Passive Voice with “it” as the Subject

4. Pragmatic Functions 6

4.1 Highlighting Objectiveness

4.2 Enhancing Politeness

4.3 Strengthening Simplicity

5. Conclusion9

Bibliography.10

Acknowledgments11