Hello everyone I am Niharika. Welcome back to a new lesson. In today’s lesson we are
gonna look at Business English Phrases related to making, changing and cancelling appointments.
Now in the corporate world people tend to meet their clients, their suppliers, owners,
managers and so on. Now how do you arrange for these meetings? That’s what we are gonna
learn in today’s lesson. We are gonna look at some phrases that would help you to arrange
for meetings. So let’s get started. The very first thing that we are gonna look at
is making appointments. So how do you make an appointment with the person you intend
to meet? So here are some phrases. The very first one is, Can we arrange a meeting? Now
can we arrange a meeting is when you are requesting someone? Now as I said in the corporate world,
people are very busy. Usually most of them have a packed schedule. So how do you request
for an appointment? This is the phrase that you would use, can we arrange a meeting? So
here you are requesting. And if you would like to use a better phrase, then you can
say, If possible I would like to come by and see you.So probably you have called someone
maybe it’s your supplier and you are looking forward to see him for something for your
business. So rather than saying, can we arrange a meeting? You can also say, if possible,
I would like to come by and see you, so again this phrase is also used to put in a request.
You wanna show or you intend to meet this person, so go ahead and use these two phrases
when you’re requesting. Now let’s look at the other three phrases here on the board.
So here you are fixing on a time or rather suggesting a time and day. How about Monday?
So you say how about Monday? How about Wednesday? You’re asking or you’re suggesting. Another
phrase that you can use is , Is next Tuesday convenient for you? So you know, we are busy,
corporate people yes they have too much work to do, so you can say is next Tuesday convenient
for you? You wanna give that respect that you know we respect your time. So would Tuesday
be convenient for you? So again you are suggesting. And then the last one here, would Thursday
suit you? So just another way of suggesting day and time. You can add time as well, would
Thursday 5pm suit you? Again you’re respecting the time. So add time with the day. So you
got it? So here are the phrases that would help you to make an appointment with someone.
Now the next one is Agreeing. Probably someone has called you and intends to meet you and
you are okay with what he or she has suggested. So how do you agree to it? These are the phrases
that you would use. The very first one, That sounds good, that sounds great . So any two
words that means you’re okay meeting at the time that’s been suggested to you, so
that sounds good or that sounds great. Another one Thursday would be perfect. So probably
you’re not doing anything else and Thursday the time that has been suggested is just perfect
for you, it suits you, so you can say Thursday would be perfect. And then the last one is
very simple, that’s fine. So you don’t have to get into too many words, you can just
keep it simple by saying that’s fine. So these are the phrases that would help you
to make appointments and agree to what is been suggested. Now let’s have a look at
some phrases that would help you to change or cancel the appointments. Let’s have a
look at declining and suggesting. So at times you cannot go ahead and agree to the time
that’s been suggested by the other person. You are busy and you have something that you
got to do. So how do you decline? Firstly you can say, I’m afraid, I have got another
meeting. Now this is a great way to decline, of course you cannot directly say no, I can’t
meet you that would be quite offending. So rather than saying direct no, use a phrase,
Oh I’m afraid I have got another meeting. So yes maybe that’s true, maybe you really
have another meeting and you cannot meet at the time that’s been suggested to you. So
that’s how you would decline. Another way Tuesday seems to be a little difficult. Now
maybe you are busy on Tuesday, you have some meetings or probably you are gonna meet someone
on a Tuesday and this time doesn’t suit you, so rather than again saying a direct
no, you would give him respect, give the person respect to meet and say Tuesday seems to be
a little difficult. So these are the two phrases that would help you to decline, but with decline,
probably you can also suggest another time. So how do you do that? Well, you would say,
I would prefer to meet on Friday, is that okay? So probably Friday you’re not very
busy. It’s the last working day of the week and you’re not very busy and you have time
that can be allotted to someone else, so you can say, I would prefer to meet on Friday
is that okay? Now it’s very important for you to ask this question, because again you
are respecting the other person’s time as well, so is that okay? Has to be asked, will
this time suit the other person? So you have to ask this. These are the expressions that
would help you to decline and of course suggest some other time. Now how do you cancel and
change your appointment? Probably you have already decided on a time and you are okay
with the time and you agreed to it, but now there’s something come up and you have to
cancel. Do not cancel at the last minute, if your meeting is at 5pm. You cannot call
that person at 4.55 and say, Hey look something is come up and I can’t meet you, that would
be so rude and not professional at all. So please try to call a little earlier, probably
if you have a meeting in the evening. So call up in the morning and tell him or her that
you would like to cancel the appointment. And how do you do that? Well, something is
come up, can we fix some other time? So probably, yes something has really come up and you won’t
be able to meet that person, so you would say, I’m sorry. The first thing that you
are gonna say is apologize, so you’re gonna say, I’m sorry something urgent has come
up, can we fix some other time? So that’s how you will say it. And another phrase that
you can use is , something has just cropped up and I won’t be able to meet you today,
so the word cropped up or the expression cropped up is just very similar to come up. So cropped
up is when something has come up, something that you will have to do and you will have
to do, so something has just cropped up and I won’t be able to meet you today. Again
you gotta apologize. So this is the way you would cancel and change the appointment. So
now that you have established these phrases that would help you to make, cancel and change
appointments, go ahead and use them. It is extremely helpful in the corporate world.
And I’ll be back with a new lesson. Till then have a great day.