In English language, there are multitudes of ways in which one can say “sorry”. Knowing how to apologize is an important aspect of being polite. If you believe that your actions or words have offended someone or made them feel bad, you might want to learn how to say sorry for different situations. Here are some expressions you can use while apologizing.
Apologizing for minor mistakes
For small mistakes, people often use these expressions:
- Oops! Sorry!
- Whoops! Sorry!
- Oh! Sorry.
- Sorry about that.
- My bad.
- Oh, my bad.
- That’s my fault.
Apologizing for major mistakes
For more serious mistakes, we use expressions like:
- I’m so sorry for being late. It won’t happen again.
- I’m really/terribly sorry for the late reply.
- My apologies.
- My apologies for the wrong information.
- My mistake.
- My mistake. I won’t repeat it.
- I had that wrong.
- I was wrong on that.
- Sorry about the mess.
- Please forgive me for what I said earlier. I didn’t mean to make you mad.
- I shouldn’t have said that. Don’t be mad at me.
- I was wrong. Can you forgive me?
- I’m afraid I can’t help you.
- Excuse me for interrupting.
Making a formal apology
For formal apology, we can use expressions such as:
- I’d like to apologize.
- I want to apologize.
- I owe you an apology.
- I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.
- I apologize for not calling earlier.
- I’d like to apologize for not returning your call.
- Please accept my apology for the inconvenience caused.
- I hope you can forgive me.
- That was wrong of me.
- It was wrong on my part. I will make amends.
- I couldn’t be more sorry.
- I beg your pardon.
- Pardon me for being so rude.
Writing a formal apology
In writing, you could use these phrases for making a formal apology:
- I sincerely apologize.
- I am regrettably sorry.
- I take full responsibility
Following sentences can also be used with one of the above phrases:
- I am regrettably sorry for any problems I may have caused.
- I sincerely apologize for my erratic behavior.
- I take full responsibility for my actions.
Ways to respond to an Apology
- That’s OK.
- No problem.
- It happens.
- Don’t mention it.
- Apology accepted.
- Don’t worry about it.
- Never mind.
- I quite understand. I’m sure you mean well.
- That’s quite alright, I forgive you.
- You should be but I forgive you.
- It’s okay. Please don’t let it happen again.
- That’s quite all right.
- No worries.
- I forgive you.
- Oh, forget it.
- Forget about it. We’re cool.
- You don’t have to apologize.
- There is no need to apologize.
- It was nothing.
- It doesn’t matter, honestly.
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