The aims of this thesis are to identify receptive clauses in Thai within the framework of Michael A.K. Halliday’s systemic grammar, and to classify them on the basis of the role of the subject, which is the semantic role of the noun related to the verb, and according to the appearance of the “agent” in the clause. It can be concluded that receptive clauses in Thai are characteristically marked with “action” verbs such as /kin/’eat’,/rak/’love’ and /nͻ : n/ ‘sleep’, not “stative” verbs such as /su᷃ay/’beautiful’, /mày/ ‘new’ and /ya : w/ ‘long’, and with the role of the subject, which is neither actor nor causer but rather with any of the following options : goal, both affected and actor, beneficiary, location, instrument, material and range. Another characteristic of the receptive clauses is that the “agent” may or may not appear in the clause. Finally, the receptive clauses are classified into 12 distinctive types based on both the role of the subject and the appearance of the “agent” in the clause.
