Making an appointment
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?
Making Business Appointments
How to make appointments in English
These are expressions you’ll probably need to make and change business appointments in English.
| Is it possible to | book an appointment | to see with |
Mr Jackson the lawyer the doctor the head of the department … |
on Monday morning? at 10 am? today? … |
| Can I | ||||
| May I |
| I wonder if I can | book an appointment | to see with |
Mr Jackson the lawyer the doctor the head of the department … |
on Monday morning. at 10 am. today. … |
| I’d like to | ||||
| I need to | ||||
| I want to |
