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 When you step on someone's foot, what do you say?
Is it different from what you would say when you want to go through a crowd? It should be.
The reason Thai students are so confused with these two sentences is because in Thai we only say,
"ขอโทษ" for both occasions. Here is the use of these words in English. |
We usually say, "excuse me" before we interrupt or disturb someone and
we say "sorry" after we disturb or trouble somebody.
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Excuse me, could I get past?... Oh, sorry, did I step on your foot?
Excuse me, could you tell me the way to the station?
Excuse me, would you mind telling me how to use the word, "sorry"? |
To say "sorry" in a more informal way, we use, "I beg your pardon".
I hope you now have a clearer understanding of how to say sorry. Sorry for all the people who
didn't come to check out this edition of Confusing or Confused? Don't you think so? |
 Exercise: Excuse me / Sorry |
| Directions: Choose the correct answers. |
| What would you say in the following situations? |
 1. Your neighbour complained about your loud music.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you.
Excuse me. I didn't know it was loud. |
2. You are in a coffee shop. You see someone dropping his book while leaving his table.
Sorry. You dropped this.
Excuse me. You dropped this. |
3. You are entertaining some guests at the dinner table when the phone rings. You have to leave the table to answer the phone.
Sorry.
Excuse me. |
4. You work in a restaurant. A customer orders a cup of coffee.
I'm sorry. Our coffee machine is broken.
Excuse me. Our coffee machine is broken. |
5. You work in a restaurant. You find out that the restaurant has run out of chicken. You go back to tell you customers who are in the middle of a conversation.
I'm sorry. We've run out of chicken.
Excuse me. We've run out of chicken. |
Answers |
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