This lesson is about perfect apologies. You will look at them in terms of grammar, word choice and style.
It's impossible to never make a mistake, so you will need to apologize sometimes. In this lesson you will discuss a variety of styles of apologies and decide which are best for different situations.
You are late for a meeting and want to apologize. Which of the following phrases are correct, and which are incorrect?
- Sorry to be late.
- I am sorry for being late.
- I mistook!
A. With your teacher, arrange these apologies from least to most formal:
- I sincerely apologize for overlooking that calculation error in the deck.
- Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there.
- Sorry I'm late. The train was stuck at the station for nearly half an hour.
- We apologize and promise it won't happen again.
- My bad. Sorry.
B. If a mistake happens, then how you apologize is important. Examine the following apologies and discuss which one is better.
- Situation 1: Your team was expecting you at 11:00 AM, but your morning client meeting went a bit long again. You're 10 minutes late.
- I'm sorry I'm late again! I should have emailed you before 11. I'll be sure to do that if it happens again.
- The client was talking on and on again. Sorry that you had to wait for me.
- Situation 2: You realized a tiny mistake in a presentation that you made to a client yesterday.
- Frank, sorry but someone made a mistake in the presentation yesterday. It wasn't me.
- Frank, can I talk with you a moment? I really need to apologize. One of my team's calculations yesterday was wrong. I've corrected it, and we're checking to see if we need to notify the client.
Now, with your teacher, think of another big mistake and how you would apologize for it.
C. Below is one structure of an apology email. Read the steps and match them with the language in the email below:
- Initial apology.
- Actions already taken.
- Understanding the situation of the other person.
- Future action/sincere promise for change.
- Invitation for further dialog.
Situation: The COO rescheduled a meeting but your team missed it due to a miscommunication.
Dear Tom Jones,
We'd like to apologize for missing the meeting.
I have sent the urgent information in a PDF attached below. I have also contacted your assistant to reschedule.
Your time is valuable and we have wasted it. For that, too, we apologize. Rest assured, we've taken measures to ensure that this type of mistake doesn't happen again.
If there is anything we can do moving forward, please don't hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Jerry Taylor
Apologize in the following situations. Discuss the method of apology and the level of formality you would use.
- You just noticed that you sent an email to a client where you spelled their name wrong.
- Your colleague asked you to bring back a cup of coffee, but you forgot.
- You worked late preparing a deck for a presentation. You've sent it to your manager, but you just noticed a mistake on the first slide.
- After the presentation, your colleague takes you aside and tells you the same mistake on the first slide (that was corrected) actually occurred later in the presentation, too, and this one wasn't corrected. It was shown to the client.