We believe that apologize it is part of your routine, as it fits among those little magic words that we must constantly use. So, do you know what our topic is today?
It's simple: should we say “I'm sorry” or “I'm sorry”?
I was already thinking that I was going to get rid of another subject related to our language, wasn't it? Well, believe me, she has great surprises in store for us and we still have a lot to talk about.
Well, look at this example:
Apologies for the delay.
We ask you a little question: if we just said the word “sorry”, would anyone understand perfectly?
Of course not! Remember those verbs that need a complement? If not, access the text "Verbs need complements: what are they called?”.
As you can see, the verb we are talking about needs a complement, that is: sorry for what? The delay.
You can just say “I'm sorry I'm late” (or whatever the reason you're apologizing for). In this case, the verb is classified as direct transitive.
But know that you can also say: “I'm sorry for the delay”. Remember the pronominal verbs? No? Well, just access the text "pronominal verbs”.
We are sure that you have noticed a very important detail: when you say “I'm sorry for the delay”, you will necessarily have to use a preposition, which, in this case, is represented by “by”.
So, record it once and for all: so much so we can say “sorry...”, with the verb acting as direct transitive; how much "I'm sorry...", with the verb functioning as pronominal”.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
