Being able to make and cancel an appointment is an important skill in English. You need to be able to:
- make an appointment,
- respond to an appointment and
- cancel an appointment.
Here are some expressions you can use to do this concisely and clearly.Asking to meet:
Are you
|
available on... / next...?
free on... / next...? |
Can we
|
meet on... / next ...?
|
would
|
next ... be ok?
|
What about
|
next ... ?
|
Is
|
next ... ok?
|
Examples:
- "Are you available on the 17th?"
- "Can we meet on the 16th?"
- "How does the 3rd sound to you?"
- "Are you free next week?"
- "Would Friday suit you?"
- "Is next Tuesday convenient for you?"
- "What about sometime next week?"
Responding to an appointment:
Yes,
|
... is fine
.... would be fine. |
....
|
suits me
would be perfect. |
I'm afraid
I'm sorry |
I can't on ....
I won't be able to... on ... |
I really don't think I can
|
on ...
|
Examples:
- "Yes, Monday is fine."
- "Monday suits me."
- "Thursday would be perfect."
- "I'm afraid I can't on the 3rd. What about the 6th?"
- "I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it on Monday. Could we meet on Tuesday instead?"
- "Ah, Wednesday is going to be a little difficult. I'd much prefer Friday, if that's alright with you."
- "I really don't think I can on the 17th. Can we meet up on the 19th?
Cancelling an appointment
You can cancel an appointment as follows
- Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen business, I will be unable to keep our appointment for tomorrow afternoon.
- Would it be possible to arrange another time later in the week?
- I’m afraid that I have to cancel our meeting on Wednesday, as something unexpected has come up.
- You know we were going to meet next Friday? Well, I'm very sorry, but something urgent has come up.
- I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to meet you after all. Can we fix another time?