THIRD PERSON PRONOUN ‘MEREKA’ + PASSIVE VERB IN FORM SIX STUDENTS’ ESSAYS

Abstract

This study describes the use of the third person pronoun ‘mereka’ +  passive voice in the writings of sixth form students.  Analysis is made by comparing the syntactic structure of passive use of the third person pronoun ‘mereka’  produced by students through their writings, and the passive structure based on the descriptive grammar in the book Tatabahasa Dewan (Nik Safiah Karim, Farid M. Onn, Hashim Haji Musa, Abdul Hamid Mahmood, 2014) which is used as the compulsory grammar textbook in Malaysian schools. Data is gathered from 104 sample essays written by sixth form students of Sekolah Menengah Tun Sharifah Rodziah in Alor Setar, the capital city of Kedah. This study shows that students do not use the passive structure featured in the grammar textbook.  In this study, the researcher applies the framework of Relevance Theory to proof that the use of the third person pronoun ‘mereka’ + passive voice is grammatical as the structure still conforms to the pragmatic rule factor.

Keywords: third person pronoun ‘mereka’, passive voice, syntax, students, Relevance theory