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Apologizing
Apologizing

Learn English with this apologizing English lesson

Date: Feb 20 2019

Themes: Friend

Grammar: Tag Questions

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Do you remember the worst mistake you ever made? Did you lie to your parents? Cheat on a test? Break something expensive? What happened?

Chances are, if you were caught doing something wrong, you had to apologize for your mistake. Maybe you felt so guilty after it happened that you decided to confess even though nobody saw you do it. The truth is, we all screw up sometimes. It’s part of being human.

Whenever you make a mistake, the best thing to do is to say that you’re sorry. It might not be fun to take responsibility for what went wrong, but at least you’ll clear the air. Hopefully, the other person will accept your apology, and everything will be OK in the end.

Lily is apologizing to Jeff a lot. Learn why she’s saying sorry in this English lesson.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Lily

Lily

Jeff

Jeff

Lily:  Hey, Jeff! Oh, I’m sorry.

Jeff:  What? Why? You didn’t do anything.

Lily:  Well, I thought I interrupted something that you were doing. I’m really sorry. Sorry.

Jeff:  You apologize a lot, don’t you?

Lily:  I feel like I’m always in somebody’s way, and it’s better to clear the air and make sure that people like you and that you’re covering all your bases with anything that you could possibly have done wrong.

Jeff:  Yeah, well, it’s just incessant. All the time.

Lily:  I’m sorry.

Jeff:  I don’t know. It makes it sound insincere.

Lily:  No, it’s completely sincere.

Jeff:  You’re paranoid.

Lily:  No, I’m not paranoid. You never apologize. Maybe you’re just too proud.

Jeff:  Well, I’ve got plenty of things to be proud about, so…

Lily:  I guess you’re right. I’m sorry. So then can you forgive me for my incessant apologies?

Jeff:  Three strikes and you’re out. So choose wisely. Speaking of confession, I have something to confess. I don’t really like apologizing.

Lily:  Really?

Jeff:  Yeah.

Lily:  But don’t you find that you have a lot to apologize for, or are you just too proud?

Jeff:  Not really. No, I mean only when I screw up big time.

Lily:  What if you bump into somebody in the street?

Jeff:  They can deal with it.

Lily:  Really?

Jeff:  Yeah.

Lily:  But what if they hate you forever?

Jeff:  I don’t care about them.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Lily sees Jeff and tells him “hi,” but then she apologizes right away. She thinks that she interrupted Jeff and she doesn’t want him to be mad at her.

Jeff doesn’t forgive Lily, though. He tells her that her incessant apologizing is actually annoying. It seems like she is making the problem worse by saying she’s sorry over and over and over.

For Lily, apologizing all the time is a way to clear the air. She’s paranoid that she’s going to do something wrong and that she’ll be in somebody’s way. Jeff feels differently, though. He doesn’t like apologizing. In fact, if he accidentally runs into somebody, he doesn’t even care.

Do you think that Lily is apologizing too much? Is Jeff too proud to apologize? Who’s right?

 

Comments

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bnastoh

bnastoh

Afghanistan

It is a good habit if you make mistake and say apology and admit your fault, it will clear the air but you have to be careful not repeating the same mistake again and again if do so, apologizing don’t help you and no one believes on you and might not forgive for the faults. 

07:04 AM Feb 21 2019 |

asef

asef

Afghanistan

By all means its good to apologize whenever you do someitng wrong. 

12:21 PM Feb 20 2019 |

1 person likes this

Diepak

India

Really it is very helpful..!

07:05 AM Apr 10 2015 |

1 person likes this

bravevivian

Ecuador

I think Lily is apologizing too much and Jeff has a horrible attitude.


Being kind and natural is the key for me.  You can’t be loved for everybody but that’s not a reason to be rude and proud all the time.

01:42 AM Mar 04 2014 |

1 person likes this

nadyanood2

nadyanood2

Tunisia

Lily is apologizing too much that she seems stupid _ 


I think apologizing is being sorry for doing something we should not do . ang we should regret it and be guilty for doing it I mean we should not say sorry for something that is not worth apologizing :)

12:29 PM Feb 21 2014 |

1 person likes this

kakaluojin

China

I do think Lily is apologizing too much. Lily cares other people opinion on her too much, she wants to be liked by everyone, and she is always worried that she might have done something wrong. In a word, Lily is so paranoid. She is living for others other than herself. Thought she is very sweet and polite, I suggest her not apologize incessantly, which could really be annoying for others. However, if she really did something wrong, it’s highly appreciated that she could stand out and take the responsibility and try to make up.


About Jeff, I don’t prefer his attitude, he is very pround of himself which is not a bad thing, but I think he is over the line, he’s being arrogant.


If they could learn from each other, like Jeff tries to be more polite and Lily tries to be confident. That could be much better.

02:27 AM Feb 21 2014 |

1 person likes this

ttsuka

ttsuka

Japan

Lily has a fear for being resented by someone.  That mentality is so strong that she has to avoid any potential of making people angry.  So, she offers apologies to anyone at any occasions as preventative measures. The humility from apologizing means nothing for her compared to the thought of being disliked. Jeff is the opposite: the humility from apologizing is unbearable for him. That’s why he disregards how others think about him; if he paid attention to others’ feelings, he had to apologize. This is in fact a sign that he has a very fragile ego – an ego that easily deflates from apologizing. To protect the ego, he refuses to apologize. So, both Lily and Jeff are insecure. It’s just the ways by which their insecurities manifest in their behaviors are different. Deep down, they share similar personality traits.     

07:39 PM Feb 20 2014 |

ahmet55

ahmet55

Germany

Regarding to Einstein: “If we don’t make a mistake it means that we do not try at all, if so, we will not achieve anything new in our life”. I apparently screw up his sentences nevertheless the main idea is still right.


Well!!Compared with other’s believes, I think a little bit differently. I guess when sb felt embarrassed and apologize for what he/she did wrong specially after a while, indeed he/she comprehend his/her fault completely along with deep thinking about what happened and what he/she presented. This is the true one in my opinion. Actually the point is here and also it is valuable factor to me. Consequently, immediately apologizing might be a usual behavior without recognizing what he/she had performed and It describes that it’s only based on feeling, not in connection with rational thoughts.



Anyway, excusing more than usual not only hurt your friend’s feeling but also it’s annoying for yourself. On the other hand being humble is important which I suppose Jeff is much proud of himself as well as selfish in this lesson. The best suggestion for Jeff to understand Lily is that to put him to her shoes. 

04:18 PM Feb 19 2014 |

S&W

S&W

China

Hey,Ola33.It’s my first time to know Band”Pet Shop Boys”.Sorry for my shallow.I googled this band and found they are very famous at that time.I watched this Live show of song”always on my mind”in japan.Cool.Honestly,Electronic music is not my taste,but thank you for sharing and i like this lyric

03:56 PM Feb 19 2014 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

Ola,thanks for good point and nice song ,


can ı add something to your song ,


” forgive me for being stupid too much ” ))))



if someone is on your mind, you have to show your feelings,treatments to her/him,

03:31 PM Feb 19 2014 |

2 people like this

ola33

ola33

Japan

Driving to work today I’ve listened to a song by Pet Shop Boys, “you were always on my mind” The music was so flowing as though you were flying and it reminded the picture of the lesson.



Maybe I didn’t treat you quite as good as I should
Maybe I didn’t love you quite as often as I could
Little things I should’ve said and done, I never took the time
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind


:)

03:15 PM Feb 19 2014 |

S&W

S&W

China

Hey Jobee,Interpersonal signals is not easy to recognize at least not obvious as traffic signals.Although it’s hard but we must try to become a person with high EQ

02:59 PM Feb 19 2014 |

1 person likes this

Jobee

Jobee

China

It is very interesting to see a person apologize incessantly.I do think he  is paranoid that he interrups others and need to clear the air and cover all bases.It shows that he is bad at handling interpersonal relationship. the first step to EQ is to recognize interpersonal signals.if you are sorry for nothing,you’re weird.and you are in others’ way

01:13 PM Feb 19 2014 |

Linn89

Singapore

Yes, i think that Lily is apologizing too much. If one is sincere enough, apologizing once is more than enough, people can feel your sincerity. I feel that Jeff is too proud to apologize. Normally, if we bump into somebody in the street, our natural reaction will be to apologize immediately.

12:03 PM Feb 19 2014 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

Yes, Seiyf, it’s like pendulum the more love you get, the more opposite things you get also. It’s like natures laws. For the strangers, right, quickly saying ‘sorry’ and we don’t care. But for the beloved ones, we want to teach a lesson. Why???


Good point Seiyf!

11:44 AM Feb 19 2014 |

Seiyf_khawas

Turkey

people are very different ..


when they collided with someone accidently ,they apologize immediately ,


but


When They made their friends sad or angry,they dont apologize from them immediately ,


coz they accept their mistake in first option,above-mentioned,


Result : sometimes,


we dont show real respect to our beloved ones althought they deserve it and we dont apologize from them caused of our Proud


ı think we forget to be polite to our beloved ones


11:39 AM Feb 19 2014 |

S&W

S&W

China

Apologizing all the time will make other people feel anxiety that rings true for me.But ,The truth is everyone has one or two days maybe a period of time,(i not sure the time.)you don’t know what’s wrong or why you are so sensitive caused you alway screw up or in somebody’s way.For polite or to ease the embrassing atmosphere,You would like to apologize sincerely .

04:40 AM Feb 19 2014 |

ABHIJITAK

ABHIJITAK

India

When one talks rudley ,there is possibilty of hurting someone. At that instant, one should be open to apologize.

04:33 AM Feb 19 2014 |

1 person likes this

郑梦婷

郑梦婷

China

a sincere apologise is really important when you made a mistake

03:57 AM Feb 19 2014 |

1 person likes this

Morninggirl

China

In my opinion, when we screw up or in somebody’s way, we need to apologize. When we apologize, we should be sincere. However, too much apology is really annoying. Since it means you are always make mistakes or be too paranoid. Why don’t you be more careful and make few mistakes?

02:02 AM Feb 19 2014 |

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