‘Apologies for any confusion!’: how to write the perfect passive-aggressive email
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EN: Present Perfect Passive ('has been named'): Used to describe an action that occurred at an unspecified time in the past and carries relevance to the present, focusing on the receiver of the action rather than the doer.
The movie has been named the best film of the year.
EN: Reporting Clause at the End ('a new survey shows'): In news writing, attributing phrases like 'a survey shows' or 'experts say' are often placed at the end of a sentence for stylistic variety and to prioritize the most important finding.
Walking daily improves cardiovascular health, studies show.
EN: In Western workplace culture, 'passive-aggressive' communication refers to expressing negative feelings, frustration, or subtle condescension indirectly rather than openly. Phrases like 'Just to be clear' or 'Per my last email' sound superficially polite, but often imply that the recipient failed to read carefully or understand simple instructions.
EN: Passive Voice with Phrasal Verbs: 'was carried out by' uses the past simple passive ('was' + past participle) of the phrasal verb 'carry out' (meaning to conduct or execute). When turning a phrasal verb into the passive voice, the preposition ('out') stays immediately attached to the verb, followed by 'by' to indicate the agent.
The scientific experiment was carried out by a team of researchers.
EN: Appositive with a Relative Clause: ', a company which checks...' uses an appositive noun phrase ('a company') to rename 'ZeroBounce', followed by a defining relative clause introduced by 'which' to explain what the company does.
We visited Spotify, a platform which streams music worldwide.
EN: In corporate and media communications, companies often conduct surveys on workplace culture or habits (like passive-aggressive email phrases) as a form of PR and content marketing. This brings public attention and credibility to their core services—such as email validation in the case of ZeroBounce.
EN: The pattern 'choose A as B' means to select person/thing A to serve in the role of B. 'As' is a preposition functioning to introduce the role, function, or status assigned to the object.
The committee chose Sarah as the new team leader.
EN: In the relative clause 'the one [they dislike most]', the relative pronoun 'that' or 'which' is omitted because it functions as the direct object of the verb 'dislike'. In informal and semi-formal English, object relative pronouns are commonly omitted.
This is the song she listens to every morning.
EN: Surveys analyzing 'passive-aggressive' workplace communication reflect modern corporate anxieties around tone in written messages like emails and Slack chats. Phrases that seem polite on the surface can be perceived as sarcastic or condescending, making email etiquette a frequent topic of debate in English-speaking workplaces.
EN: The verb 'come' followed by an ordinal number (e.g., 'came second', 'came first') is used to express ranking or position in a competition, race, or survey.
Our school team came third in the national science competition.
EN: The intransitive verb 'tie' combined with the preposition 'with' means to achieve the exact same score, rank, or result as someone or something else.
She tied with her classmate for the highest exam score.
EN: Phrases like 'per my last email' and 'as previously discussed' are quintessential examples of workplace passive-aggression in English-speaking offices. Although syntactically neutral and professional, they implicitly signal: 'You didn't read what I wrote' or 'I already told you this, stop wasting my time.'
EN: A non-defining relative clause (introduced by a comma and 'which') gives extra, non-essential information about the preceding noun phrase ('for future reference' and 'kindly note'). It does not restrict the meaning, but simply adds detail.
He sent an attachment, which was downloaded by thousands of users.
EN: Passive Voice in Past Simple ('were chosen'): Formed with 'were' + past participle ('chosen'). It emphasizes the action and the recipient rather than the agent who performed the action.
Several proposals were rejected during the meeting.
EN: Phrases like 'for future reference' and 'kindly note' are often perceived as passive-aggressive in modern English business correspondence. While they appear polite, they often subtly criticize the recipient for failing to follow previous instructions or not paying enough attention.
EN: Reporting verbs like 'said' are frequently followed by a 'that'-noun clause, which functions as the direct object of the verb and reports indirect speech or opinions.
The manager said that the meeting would be postponed until Friday.
EN: 'Sound' is a linking verb (copula verb) indicating sensory perception, typically followed by a predicate adjective (e.g., 'aggressive'). Here, the adverb 'openly' modifies the adjective 'aggressive', and 'almost' modifies 'openly'.
His suggestion sounds very practical for our current project.
EN: In British and Anglo-American workplace culture, indirect and polite language is standard. Phrases like 'Just to be clear' or 'Per my last email' are formally polite, but in practice, they often signal irritation or blame, crossing the line from subtle passive-aggression to overt hostility.
EN: The verb 'imagine' is typically followed by a gerund (verb-ing), not an infinitive (to + verb), when expressing the act of picturing an action.
Can you imagine living in another country alone?
EN: The idiom 'out loud' functions as an adverbial phrase meaning 'aloud' or in a voice that other people can hear, rather than silently or in one's head.
She accidentally read the private message out loud.
EN: In Western office culture, passive-aggressive email phrases like 'just to be clear' or 'per my last email' are often perceived as disguised hostility. The columnist points out that while people comfortably type these phrases behind screens, saying them face-to-face would sound shockingly rude and confrontational.
EN: The phrase 'In one's view' is a prepositional phrase used as a sentence adverbial to express an opinion, synonymous with 'in one's opinion'. It is often placed at the beginning of a sentence followed by a comma.
In our view, the proposed policy will benefit the local economy.
EN: Modal auxiliary verb 'must' expresses strong necessity or requirement, followed directly by the base form of a verb ('keep'). The phrase 'on the surface' acts as an adverbial modifier indicating outward appearance.
You must remain calm during an emergency.
EN: In English-speaking corporate culture, direct confrontation is often discouraged. Instead, colleagues sometimes resort to 'passive-aggressive' communication—using outwardly polite and professional phrases (like 'per my last email' or 'just to be clear') that actually conceal frustration, irritation, or blame.
EN: A defining relative clause starting with the relative pronoun 'who' modifies the indefinite pronoun 'everyone'. Notice that indefinite pronouns like 'everyone' take a singular verb ('reads') in standard English.
Anyone who joins the club must follow the rules.
EN: The modal auxiliary 'should' expresses expectation or advisability, followed by the adverb 'still' and the base verb 'understand' (should still understand).
You should always double-check your email before hitting send.
EN: In Anglo-American workplace culture, 'passive-aggressive' communication often relies on surface-level corporate politeness ('per my last email', 'just to be clear') to subtly signal frustration or annoyance without violating workplace conduct policies. This indirect style requires recipients to 'read between the lines.'
Key vocabulary words with IPA pronunciation, definitions, example sentences, and interactive quizzes.
Phrases with type tags, bilingual definitions, usage notes, and example sentences.
to perform or complete a task, survey, or plan
as stated in the previous email sent to you (often used with subtle frustration)
spoken aloud so that other people can hear, rather than just in one's mind
when considering only the obvious appearance of something rather than its deep or true nature