Portuguese traditional grammar postulates two forms of "passive voice", known as "analytical" and "synthetic". The use of these structures in texts suggests that they are not different lexicogrammatical realizations of the same meaning. Concerning the semantic contents related to the textual metafunction in the systemic-functional approach, they represent distinct contributions to the informational flow of the text. "Analytical passive voice", which presents the patient participant of a process as unmarked Theme, functions mainly as a resource for maintaining the topic of discourse, as well as for varying the degree of focusing on the Agent. "Synthetic passive voice", on the other hand, in its unmarked order, attaches thematic prominence to the Process, at the same time as the patient participant, placed in the Rheme, tends to correspond to new information.
Passive voice; Clitic "se"; Theme; Given and New
