tulipflower
Member
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2014
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Persian
- Home Country
- Iran
- Current Location
- Iran
Oh, I’m very sorry. How terrible!
What would an English native speaker say in the following situations?
Situation 1: You are applying for a job in a company. You go into the office to turn in your application form to the manager. You talk to the manager for a few minutes. When you move to give the manager your form, you accidentally knock over a vase on the desk and spill water over a pile of papers.
a) Oh, I’m very sorry. How terrible! All your papers are wet now.
b) Oh, I’m sorry.
c) Oh, I’m so sorry! Where can I get some paper towels to clean this up?
Reference: Hudson, T., Detmer, E. and Brown, J.D. 1995: Developing prototypic measures of cross-cultural pragmatics. Technical Report 7. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center
What would an English native speaker say in the following situations?
Situation 1: You are applying for a job in a company. You go into the office to turn in your application form to the manager. You talk to the manager for a few minutes. When you move to give the manager your form, you accidentally knock over a vase on the desk and spill water over a pile of papers.
a) Oh, I’m very sorry. How terrible! All your papers are wet now.
b) Oh, I’m sorry.
c) Oh, I’m so sorry! Where can I get some paper towels to clean this up?
Reference: Hudson, T., Detmer, E. and Brown, J.D. 1995: Developing prototypic measures of cross-cultural pragmatics. Technical Report 7. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center
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