A description of the french passive for non-native speakers

Abstract

Even major features of a language are often inadequately described and this is especially true of descriptions intended for the non-native speaker. This study aims to remedy this situation in respect of the feature of voice and particularly in respect of the passive in French. Chapter 1 reviews existing general treatments of the passive end concludes with an outline of the areas to be covered in Chapters 2 and 3 together with a discussion of the methodology to be adopted. In Chapter 2 the passive is defined by contrast with the active voice and the concept of voice neutrality is introduced. This is followed by a more detailed analysis of the three types of passive sentence which have been postulated together with an examination of a number of related problems. The chapter concludes with 2 comparison of the distribution of the three types of passive. Chapter 3 deals with the factors determining the selection of the passive.