I'm sorry are words that people use every single day but did you know that native speakers
have many different expressions in
our
vocabulary to say?
I'm sorry in fact there are over 25 common expressions and that's exactly what you'll
learn today.
Let's get
started.
First, let's talk about some casual Expressions that you can use in everyday situations.
Let's take the example of
Of bumping into someone at the grocery store and you want to apologize.
So instead of saying I'm sorry,
you
can simply say sorry, I know it's a subtle difference but it will really help you sound
more natural to just say sori sori.
You can also add so or very in front of it.
So sorry, very sorry.
Or you could say sorry.
About that, that being the mistake, bumping into the person at the grocery store.
Sorry about that.
So sorry about that.
I'm so sorry about that to help you remember.
All of these Expressions I created a free lesson PDF, you can look in the description
or the comment section for the link to download the free lesson, PDF.
Another common thing is simply to make a sound effect.
Like
Like, oops, oops, whoops.
Oh no.
Oh my.
And then you don't even have to say anything else because usually it's your facial expression.
Oops.
Oh oopsie oopsie.
Thanks, whoops.
A slightly more formal one.
But that's still very casual is to say, excuse me.
Or pardon me, excuse me, pardon me.
Those are quite common as well.
Let's say that your friend asked, you to buy her a chocolate chip cookie, but you bought
her an oatmeal cookie.
So instead of saying I'm sorry, you could say, my bad, my bad, this is extremely common
in North America and it will really
They make you sound like an American English speaker.
My bad, my bad.
Keep in mind, it is quite casual and it's used for smaller things.
You want to apologize for like getting the wrong.
Cookie, my bad, you could also say my fault, my fault or my mistake my mistake, I got you
the wrong cookie.
My bad, let's say you want to add
MIT your mistake, for example, you told your friend, the party started at 8:00, but it
actually started at 7:00.
You could say I was wrong.
So, instead of saying I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong time, you could say I was wrong.
Of course, you can use any of our other Expressions, my bad, but one to specifically, admit your
mistake is simply to say aye.
I was wrong often.
We say sorry, if we can't do something that someone wants us to do.
So let's say your friend invited you to a party but you can't attend.
It would be very common to say, I'm sorry, I can't attend your party instead of saying
I'm sorry, you can say, unfortunately.
So replace I'm sorry with unfortunately,
Unfortunately I can't help you.
Unfortunately, I can't attend your party unfortunately, I can't drive you to the airport.
Now let's talk about some more professional Expressions that you can use in the workplace
or a more formal situation.
Let's say you arrive to an important meeting, 10 minutes late, instead of saying I'm sorry.
You can say the my apologies now you can expand that and say my apologies for being late to
make it stronger.
You can add sincere my sincere apologies for being late to sound even more formal.
You could say please accept my apologies, please accept my sincere.
Apologies for being late.
That sounds very formal
Let's say you made a mistake at work and you ordered 100 boxes but you should have ordered
10 boxes.
Now, in the Casual example, we learned I was wrong to admit.
You made a mistake in a professional context.
I recommend I take full responsibility.
This sounds very professional because the word responsibility.
Sounds professional.
I take full responsibility for ordering the wrong number of boxes.
My sincere, apologies, I take full responsibility.
You can also say, I understand, I made a mistake, I'll fix it now, instead of understand you
can say, I know I made a mistake.
I admit I made a mistake all fix it.
So notice you're not
Just admitting it, you're also offering a solution.
I'll fix it.
I'll call the supplier right now.
I'll get this resolved.
So offering a solution is a great addition to admitting a mistake.
Let's say that you kept a client waiting on the phone for a long time.
Now, instead of saying, I'm sorry for the wait, you can
Say, I appreciate your patience.
So instead of talking about the - you talk about the
positive,
which is the fact that your client is patient, I appreciate your patience.
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you for understanding.
Thank you for holding.
I appreciate your time.
I appreciate your patience now.
Let's say that.
Let your boss your coworker or your client offers you some constructive criticism.
So they tell you about something that you're not doing very well.
Maybe your last presentation wasn't very good and they give you some constructive criticism
some feedback instead of saying I'm sorry, my presentation wasn't good.
You can say thank you for bringing
bringing this to my attention or thank you for letting me know and then you can add a
solution.
I'll work on that, I'll improve that or you can even ask them, how can I improve?
Can you give me some suggestions to improve?
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
There's one common idiom that you can use to admit you made a mistake.
So, remember in the casual,
Example, you can say I was wrong.
In the professional example, you can say, I take full responsibility, the idiom that
you can use in.
Any situation is the buck stops with me, the buck stops with me.
This simply means I was wrong or I take full responsibility, the buck stops with me.
So now you have so many alternatives to help you sound very fluent and
Natural.
My favorite is my bad, my bad, because I hear Americans use it all the time and I want you
to sound more fluent by using it to my bad.
What's your favorite from this list?
Now, don't stop here.
You can keep learning with this lesson.
I know you'll love it and make sure you download your free speaking guide where I share six
tips on how to speak English fluently, and confidently, you can get it from my website
right here, so
Now, get started with your next lesson.