Giving Bad News
I regret to inform you that...
This page lists useful expressions for the language function of giving bad or unwelcome news to other people.
Elementary
- I'm sorry but ...
- I'm afraid ...
Pre-Intermediate
- Actually ...
- Because of ...
- I regret to inform you that ...
- I tried ... but ...
- I'm sorry to say (that) ...
- I'm sorry to tell you (that) ...
- In answer to your request, ...
- It's not ... enough (for/to ... )
- It's too ... (for/to be able to ... )
- That is usually okay, but ...
- There are some problems (with ... )
- There have been some problems (with ... )
- Unfortunately, ...
Intermediate
- ... won't be possible (at this stage/at this time).
- Currently, ...
- Due to ...
- I am asked this quite often and the answer is (always) ...
- I am sorry to have to tell you that ...
- I am unable to ...
- I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
- I checked (with my boss/the relevant documents) and ...
- I have some bad news for you (I'm afraid).
- I tried my best but ...
- I was going to ...
- In fact, ...
- Instead of that (I'd like to offer you) ...
- It's only available ...
- Once again, I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
- That is usually true, but ...
- That used to be possible/allowed/permitted, but ...
- That's not really possible.
- There are some troubles with ...
- There's a rule against that/ ...
- This is a result of ...
- You need ... 's permission (to ... )
Upper-Intermediate
- After consulting with my colleague/colleagues/boss, ...
- Bad news, I'm afraid.
- Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
- I am sorry to have to inform you that ...
- I attempted (to) ... , but ...
- I can see/understand why you might/would think that (but ... )
- I thought ... was possible, but ...
- I was planning to ... , but ...
- I would love to help you, but ...
- I'd like to be able to help you but ...
- If you look at the attached information, you will see that ...
- In reality ...
- It's against ... policy.
- It's limited to ...
- Owing to ...
- Rather than that, (might I suggest) ...
- Sorry I couldn't be (of) more help.
- Thank you in advance for your understanding.
- That is usually the case/acceptable/the system, but ...
- That used to be the case, but ...
- That's the best I can do.
- There are some issues with ...
- There's nothing I can do.
- We always reject/turn down such requests.
Advanced
- ... don't have the authority to be able to ...
- Although we have been able to respond positively to similar requests in the past, ...
- Are you sure you want to hear this?
- As you might have guessed, ...
- As you suspected, ...
- At this moment in time, ...
- Brace yourself.
- Despite my best efforts, ...
- I can see why you might think that/ ... , but ...
- I can understand why you would ask/request that, but ...
- I can't see any way out of this.
- I was hoping ...
- I wish I could help you (really I do, but ...)
- I would like to warn you in advance that ...
- Initially, ...
- It appears to be the case that ...
- It is my unfortunate duty to report to you that ...
- It would appear that ...
- It's out of my hands.
- Realistically, ...
- There's no easy/nice way to say this, ...
- There's good news and bad news.
- You might want to sit down before you hear this.