[Music]
hello I’m Emma
from English have you ever made a plan
with someone but then realised that you
need to change the plan or cancel it in
English you need to be careful about the
language that you use to make sure that
you’re doing it politely now there’s
lots of reasons why you would need to
change your plans or cancel your plans
in English
perhaps you genuinely can’t meet someone
because something more important or
urgent has come up
perhaps you’ve double-booked yourself
and that means that you’ve made two
appointments at the same time without
realizing it so you need to cancel one
and other times you might just be
feeling lazy or you just don’t feel like
meeting them but of course you don’t
want to offend someone by telling them
that canceling plans can be a little
uncomfortable a little awkward so in
this lesson I’m going to give you some
useful expressions that will help you to
change or cancel your plans in English
now these expressions will be useful for
formal appointments that you’ve made
like the doctors or the dentists with a
work client or a colleague your child
school principal or even a Skype lesson
with a new English teacher but they can
also be used informally as well when
you’ve made plans to have a coffee with
friends or meet a date for dinner or
even to cancel or change a meeting time
with a new friend that you’ve met online
so the first thing you’ll need to do is
break the news and this idiom means to
tell someone something especially if
it’s something that they’re not
expecting to hear or it’s bad news to
break the news start with something like
I’m calling because or the reason I need
to speak to you is so if you’re at a
professional office for example you
could say I need to cancel or change my
appointment if you’re talking to a
colleague that you don’t know that well
you could say I won’t be able to attend
the meeting on Thursday but with a
colleague that you do know well you
might say I can’t make it to the meeting
on Thursday it’s a little more informal
and with a friend you could say I can’t
make it to dinner on Friday
now these expressions are great if
you’re canceling or rescheduling in a
reasonable amount of time you know with
enough notice but let’s be real
sometimes we aren’t as organized as we
want to be and we need to change or
cancel an appointment without much
warning right perhaps the meeting or the
appointment is tomorrow or it’s even the
same day so then you really should
include an apology it’s polite to
include an apology any time that you
change plans but if you do it at late
notice you must apologize and you can do
that simply by adding an introduction to
your sentence I’m really sorry but I
need to cancel I’m so sorry for the late
notice but I need to cancel my apologies
I need to cancel now that quite formal
that last example best in an email or in
a very formal situation so to soften the
blow and that idiom means to make a bad
situation less serious to soften the
blow
you could add I was really looking
forward to it now this helps to reassure
the person or tell them that you’re
upset that you can’t make it and that
you still want to meet them at some
stage in the future
I was really looking forward to dinner
on Thursday we were really looking
forward to meeting you I was looking
forward to seeing your new office
okay so you’ve broken the news you’ve
cancelled your plan and you’ve
apologized so now you need to explain
why you canceled it’s polite in any
situation to offer a reason why you have
to cancel but you might not want to
explain all of the details especially if
you don’t know the person well it might
be a personal reason or it could be
embarrassing at times like this you can
use the expression something’s come up
something has come up now this is a good
expression to cancel an appointment with
someone that you don’t know and most
English native speakers will understand
this expression they’ll understand that
it’s not possible for you to attend the
meeting or the appointment and there is
a reason but you don’t want to explain
why and that’s perfectly acceptable
especially with formal appointments in a
professional context or with people that
you don’t know well something’s come up
and I need to reschedule perfectly
acceptable but don’t use this expression
with friends or close colleagues because
they might feel a little offended that
you don’t feel comfortable enough to
explain why usually with friends you can
be a little more honest right so if you
don’t mind explaining why you had to
cancel or change the plans you can
simply explain why I was really looking
forward to dinner on Thursday but I’m
flying to Sydney on Wednesday night for
work I’m really really sorry I’ve had
such a busy week and I’ve double booked
myself I’ve been feeling under the
weather all day is
okay if we postpone dinner until I’m
feeling better so now the last thing
that you need to do is reschedule your
appointment to make another time since
you’re the one who’s cancelling or
changing the plans you should try to
reschedule the meeting by offering some
suggestions can we reschedule I’m free
at 3 p.m. on Friday can we try for
Tuesday instead it’s a little more
informal now these ones are better for
appointments more formal appointments is
it possible to reschedule can I make a
new appointment time so do you want to
see some examples of all of these
elements together
I’m so sorry Sara
I was looking forward to catching up on
Friday but my bus has asked me to work
late so I won’t be able to make it can
we reschedule to Monday my apologies but
I can’t make our meeting this afternoon
something’s come up are we able to
reschedule till next week hi Farrah I’m
really looking forward to meeting you on
skype but I have to apologize because I
need to cancel our meeting I was
confused by our time zone difference so
I need to reschedule to later in the
evening is 7:00 p.m. okay for you well
that’s it for this lesson I hope that
you’ve learned a few new useful
expressions that can help you to cancel
appointments or change meeting times in
English make sure that you subscribe to
the English Channel right here so that
you never miss a lesson you can do that
just by clicking that red button there
and don’t go anywhere just yet there are
lots and lots of other lessons here on
the English Channel like this one or
this one
thanks for watching and I’ll see you
next lesson bye for now
hello I’m Emma
from English have you ever made a plan
with someone but then realised that you
need to change the plan or cancel it in
English you need to be careful about the
language that you use to make sure that
you’re doing it politely now there’s
lots of reasons why you would need to
change your plans or cancel your plans
in English
perhaps you genuinely can’t meet someone
because something more important or
urgent has come up
perhaps you’ve double-booked yourself
and that means that you’ve made two
appointments at the same time without
realizing it so you need to cancel one
and other times you might just be
feeling lazy or you just don’t feel like
meeting them but of course you don’t
want to offend someone by telling them
that canceling plans can be a little
uncomfortable a little awkward so in
this lesson I’m going to give you some
useful expressions that will help you to
change or cancel your plans in English
now these expressions will be useful for
formal appointments that you’ve made
like the doctors or the dentists with a
work client or a colleague your child
school principal or even a Skype lesson
with a new English teacher but they can
also be used informally as well when
you’ve made plans to have a coffee with
friends or meet a date for dinner or
even to cancel or change a meeting time
with a new friend that you’ve met online
so the first thing you’ll need to do is
break the news and this idiom means to
tell someone something especially if
it’s something that they’re not
expecting to hear or it’s bad news to
break the news start with something like
I’m calling because or the reason I need
to speak to you is so if you’re at a
professional office for example you
could say I need to cancel or change my
appointment if you’re talking to a
colleague that you don’t know that well
you could say I won’t be able to attend
the meeting on Thursday but with a
colleague that you do know well you
might say I can’t make it to the meeting
on Thursday it’s a little more informal
and with a friend you could say I can’t
make it to dinner on Friday
now these expressions are great if
you’re canceling or rescheduling in a
reasonable amount of time you know with
enough notice but let’s be real
sometimes we aren’t as organized as we
want to be and we need to change or
cancel an appointment without much
warning right perhaps the meeting or the
appointment is tomorrow or it’s even the
same day so then you really should
include an apology it’s polite to
include an apology any time that you
change plans but if you do it at late
notice you must apologize and you can do
that simply by adding an introduction to
your sentence I’m really sorry but I
need to cancel I’m so sorry for the late
notice but I need to cancel my apologies
I need to cancel now that quite formal
that last example best in an email or in
a very formal situation so to soften the
blow and that idiom means to make a bad
situation less serious to soften the
blow
you could add I was really looking
forward to it now this helps to reassure
the person or tell them that you’re
upset that you can’t make it and that
you still want to meet them at some
stage in the future
I was really looking forward to dinner
on Thursday we were really looking
forward to meeting you I was looking
forward to seeing your new office
okay so you’ve broken the news you’ve
cancelled your plan and you’ve
apologized so now you need to explain
why you canceled it’s polite in any
situation to offer a reason why you have
to cancel but you might not want to
explain all of the details especially if
you don’t know the person well it might
be a personal reason or it could be
embarrassing at times like this you can
use the expression something’s come up
something has come up now this is a good
expression to cancel an appointment with
someone that you don’t know and most
English native speakers will understand
this expression they’ll understand that
it’s not possible for you to attend the
meeting or the appointment and there is
a reason but you don’t want to explain
why and that’s perfectly acceptable
especially with formal appointments in a
professional context or with people that
you don’t know well something’s come up
and I need to reschedule perfectly
acceptable but don’t use this expression
with friends or close colleagues because
they might feel a little offended that
you don’t feel comfortable enough to
explain why usually with friends you can
be a little more honest right so if you
don’t mind explaining why you had to
cancel or change the plans you can
simply explain why I was really looking
forward to dinner on Thursday but I’m
flying to Sydney on Wednesday night for
work I’m really really sorry I’ve had
such a busy week and I’ve double booked
myself I’ve been feeling under the
weather all day is
okay if we postpone dinner until I’m
feeling better so now the last thing
that you need to do is reschedule your
appointment to make another time since
you’re the one who’s cancelling or
changing the plans you should try to
reschedule the meeting by offering some
suggestions can we reschedule I’m free
at 3 p.m. on Friday can we try for
Tuesday instead it’s a little more
informal now these ones are better for
appointments more formal appointments is
it possible to reschedule can I make a
new appointment time so do you want to
see some examples of all of these
elements together
I’m so sorry Sara
I was looking forward to catching up on
Friday but my bus has asked me to work
late so I won’t be able to make it can
we reschedule to Monday my apologies but
I can’t make our meeting this afternoon
something’s come up are we able to
reschedule till next week hi Farrah I’m
really looking forward to meeting you on
skype but I have to apologize because I
need to cancel our meeting I was
confused by our time zone difference so
I need to reschedule to later in the
evening is 7:00 p.m. okay for you well
that’s it for this lesson I hope that
you’ve learned a few new useful
expressions that can help you to cancel
appointments or change meeting times in
English make sure that you subscribe to
the English Channel right here so that
you never miss a lesson you can do that
just by clicking that red button there
and don’t go anywhere just yet there are
lots and lots of other lessons here on
the English Channel like this one or
this one
thanks for watching and I’ll see you
next lesson bye for now
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