Why do we resort to such phrases? Because we feel that we have encroached on someone’s time, territory, attention, without having the right to do so at that moment or in general.
And we understand that we would be outraged and even ready to actively protest if we were treated in the same way.
Therefore, in a number of cases, we, with a good upbringing and a healthy psyche, automatically strive to smooth out a conflict that has not yet begun, but has prerequisites for development, by apologizing.
So to speak, we launch a mechanism for smoothing out conditional sharp corners due to emotional or physical contact, which, in theory, should not have taken place or causes discomfort in the other person .
What is the difference between pride and arrogance? Find out about this from our article.
What do these two words mean?
In both cases, this is about our conscious desire to demonstrate that we repent of our unwanted behavior towards the recipient.
And we realize that we went, wittingly or unwittingly, against etiquette or other regulations, but we count on forgiveness.
At the same time, “sorry” is more common when contacting strangers , and “sorry” is more common with loved ones . Although, of course, everything is individual.
Some people believe that an apology is a more modern form of expressing one's regret about what happened than asking for forgiveness. But what is more important here is how sincerely the phrase is pronounced, and not the direct content of a particular statement.
Therefore, the polite “I beg your pardon” has the same right to life as the everyday “I’m sorry,” but said with a feeling of regret, and not filled with poorly disguised bitterness.
I would like to note that the expression “I’m sorry” sounds almost the same as “I’m sorry.” But, in fact, they are completely different in meaning . In the second case, the speaker asks to forgive him, and in the first, as if he is excusing himself.
It comes out funny and out of place, since it is a kind of mockery of the addressee .
However, many people use this particular form of expression, thinking that such a statement proves that the conditionally victim is not a boor or a rude person, but a well-mannered person who feels some embarrassment for something in his behavior.
Examples of replacing “sorry” with “thank you”
- “I admit my guilt, I’m late, as always” - replace with “Thank you for your patience”;
- “I admit my guilt, I’m talking nonsense” - replace with “Thank you for listening to me”;
- “Sorry, I’m just taking up space” - replace with “Thank you for appreciating me”;
- “I apologize for this nonsense” - replace it with “Thank you for your understanding”;
- “Sorry for taking up your time” - replace with “Thank you for spending time with me”;
- “I’m sorry I disappointed you” - replace it with “Thank you for believing in me all this time.”
And remember, it’s always easier to say “thank you” instead of “sorry.” Appreciate others for what they have already accomplished, whether they know it or not. Don't apologize for existing. Because there is nothing illegal about it.
What is the difference between them?
“Sorry” is said if the guilt, in the opinion of the speaker, does not require a lengthy explanation of the reason for unexpected rudeness, awkwardness, etc.
Most often, the word rolls off the tongue automatically if you accidentally physically violated someone’s personal space, pushed them, stepped on their feet while making their way through a crowd, touched them with a bag, or with your hand.
They say the same thing if they disturb you at an inopportune time with a request of a personal nature, or if they take a person away from performing direct duties due to the need for advice, help, or hints.
“Sorry” is most often used if the interference in personal space occurred more than moral standards allow, but not so much that there is a reason to invoke legislative codes for dismantling flights, a joke.
Difference between "I'm sorry" and "I'm sorry"
The word “sorry” is most often said automatically, when there is no need to explain for a long time the reason for random rudeness and there is no invasion of personal space. “Sorry” can be heard if this invasion has already occurred and has gone far enough, but legislative codes are not involved. Most often, this is addressed to a very close person.
The phrase “I'm sorry” sounds two-faced and is perceived by some as an outdated form. “Sorry” often sounds careless towards the addressee, who should stop considering the one who uttered this phrase to be guilty. “Sorry” is best used in relation to someone with whom you communicate well. These phrases are not very different from each other, but they carry completely different messages.
When do they say the phrase “sorry” or “excuse me”?
You can’t do without it if you find yourself in a situation where:
- They arrived later than other people to a concert or to a movie and now have to make their way to their seats in the center of the row, disturbing other spectators.
If you want to leave the spectacle before other visitors to the event, it is also necessary to apologize for the disturbance on the way to the exit. - Someone was hit with an elbow, someone’s foot was stepped on, or the edge of their clothing was caught while in a crowd.
- They accidentally interfered with the design of the hairstyle.
- When you are forced to push someone aside in order to reach an object that would otherwise remain out of your reach.
- There is a need to contact a person to find out the direction for your further movement, find out the time, your location, or something else.
Even if the person you intend to contact is not communicating with anyone or talking on the phone, looks like they are just resting or doing nothing, you should start the dialogue with the phrase “sorry.” This is how you politely apologize for intruding into another person's personal space.
Without explaining the reason for your behavior, even if there is no time for long conversations, simply saying “sorry” is not enough if you:
- They didn’t come to some event to which they were invited in advance as a loved one.
- You or your child stained someone's clothes with your food or drinks.
- We were late for the meeting. Here brevity is only to your benefit, but everyone should understand the reason for missing deadlines.
- They violated the ritual, rules during meals, meetings with a foreign representative due to ignorance of the customs of his country.
- They turned up under someone’s arm, causing the person holding the papers to drop them. Naturally, it is very desirable that you help correct what was done or somehow compensate for the damage done.
- You want to move forward or go back, but you cannot do this without offering to change seats, a typical situation in public transport during rush hour.
- They accidentally ruined a thing or item due to their ignorance of how it works or for another reason. Naturally, along with an apology, you must immediately promise to compensate for the costs of restoring or purchasing a new item.
Meaning of words
In the case of “sorry,” as in the case of “sorry,” the person shows the recipient that he truly regrets his behavior. In addition, the individual himself is well aware that he has gone too far and gone against etiquette. You may notice that people often use the word “sorry” when communicating with strangers, but in close circles they usually say “I’m sorry.”
According to some, in the modern interpretation, it is more correct to apologize rather than ask for forgiveness. However, what difference will it make, as it will be said, if a person does not repent in his soul?
From modern people you can often hear “I’m sorry” and it immediately seems that this word is very similar to “I’m sorry”, but they have a slightly different meaning. If, when apologizing, a person truly repents of his actions, then when he says “I’m sorry,” he seems to be apologizing to himself and laughing a little at the person to whom it was addressed.
In the dictionary Complete accentuated paradigm according to A. A. Zaliznya
Sorry to sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, apologized, apologizing, excusing, apologized, apologized, apologized, apologized, apologized, apologized, apologized. Assigned, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused, excused , sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry ́, sorry
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Example sentences
Due to the fact that the word sorry is found everywhere, there are many examples of phrases with this word and words close to it: guilt, blame, and so on. Let's look at some examples.
Phraseologism “Sorry, move!”
The saying “I humbly apologize, I ask promptly.”
Quote from the 18th century German poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: “The most notorious villain tries to excuse himself and convince himself that the crime he has committed is not particularly significant and is due to necessity.”
The title of the book by the French writer Agnès Martin-Lugan “Sorry, they’re waiting for me...”
Everyday phrase “Excuse me, please could you tell me what time it is?”
We are sure that if you wish, you can easily give your own numerous examples of phrases that include the verb sorry or words derived from it.
“Sorry” or “excuse me”: how to spell correctly?
We made sure that the verb “excuse me” is incorrect, that is, the root must contain the letter “i” and not “e”.
Such a word does not exist in Russian. There are also no words formed from a verb with an error in the root: “sorry”, “apologies”, “sorry”. Any spelling dictionary will confirm this and dispel any doubts. Therefore, in all the above cases we use exclusively the letter “and”. Remembering how to spell the word “sorry” is quite easy: it contains three vowel letters “and”.
Which is correct to spell: “sorry” or “excuse me”?
Correct spelling of words is an indicator of literacy and high intellectual level. If you have any doubts about spelling, we can always turn to a spelling dictionary. But what if he is not nearby?
In our case, the second vowel in the word “sorry” causes difficulty. However, in order to finally remember the spelling of the word, we will analyze it visually. It is a verb in the second person plural. It reflects an action in the form of a request, a wish addressed from one person to another, that is, it is in the imperative mood. It is identified with the concept of guilt. By pronouncing this word, we ask the interlocutor to take us out of a certain state, to relieve us of guilt.
The morphemic composition of the verb is as follows: “iz” is a prefix, “vin” is a root, “it” is a suffix, “e” is an ending.
Sorry
That is, the unstressed vowel that needs to be checked is at the root of the word. There are two ways to check the correct spelling of verbs with an unstressed vowel:
- selection of a test cognate word;
- inflection.
Using the first method, it is easy to select words that are related in meaning and have the same root for the following examples:
- marine - sea;
- luxurious - luxury;
- to be sick is pain.
However, in our case it does not give the desired result, since in all possible cases the controversial sound “and” is also in an unstressed position. For example, “guilt” - stress on “a” or “guilty” - stress on the sound “o”.
By changing the form of the verb, we find test words. These are, for example, innocence, guilt, guilty, innocent, innocent.
We conclude that we write the verb exclusively with the letter “ and ” in the root.
Morphological analysis of the word “sorry”
Sometimes the error lies elsewhere. For example, sometimes people write the wrong “sorry” in a hurry. To avoid this, we will perform a morphological analysis.
In the word “from-win-and-those” there are:
- the prefix “from-”, which carries the meaning of extraction, isolation, bringing to the limit;
- root “-vin-” with non-alternating vowels;
- suffix “-and-”;
- and the postfix "-te".
How to choose the right test word
Sometimes, to dispel doubts, it is enough to simply write on a piece of paper the first cognate words that come to mind: “guilt”, “guilty”, “you’ll apologize”
. Based on them, a similar spelling of the desired expression should be remembered.
In this case, this method will mislead few people, since there is no alternation of vowels in the root “vin”, and the letters “e” and “i” do not change depending on the perfective or imperfective aspect.
However, sometimes even such words as “guilt” and “guilty” present difficulties for the writer. Fortunately, “sorry” is not a dictionary expression in the sense that it can only be memorized and thoughtlessly applied. On the contrary, we can check his spelling at any time with a test word in which the emphasis falls on the problematic letter.
The main thing here is not to make the mistake of accidentally using a homonym and falsely checking the “apology” through the “wine” (glass). Fortunately, there are already enough good test words.
Among them are words such as “guiltless”, “innocent”
and the “innocence” derived from the latter, then the expressions “to confess” (to court, to the ruler), “to bear military service” (usually military service), which have already begun to become outdated and become a thing of the past.
One may also recall the striking proverb: “the sword does not cut off a guilty head.”
When to use "sorry"?
Saying “sorry” or “excuse me” will be quite enough if:
- You suddenly rushed into someone’s office without knocking.
- You accidentally ruined a loved one’s item, and you should offer to compensate for the damage.
- If during a dialogue with someone you raised your voice.
- You want to sit next to a person on a bench or in a cafe.
These concepts are very similar, but many would not even think of delving too deeply into their meaning. For some people, simply hearing these words is enough to forgive or forgive someone without going into details. It is not so important what exactly you say to someone who has been accidentally offended in some way, the main thing is to do it from the bottom of your heart. And in order not to offend anyone in a fit of anger, you should take the Vikium course “Emotional Intelligence” and learn to manage your emotions.
