When you say the words “I’m sorry” to someone, you are apologizing to them.<\/p>\n
That should be simple and straightforward, right? Of course<\/a><\/strong>, that isn’t the case when you are dealing with commas!<\/p>\n The good news about commas and “sorry” is that using the comma wrong rarely affects comprehension.<\/p>\n Knowing when “sorry” should be followed by a comma can be confusing, but there actually is a consistent rule. The rest of this post will help you identify when “sorry” needs to be followed by a comma.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You need a comma after “sorry” when it is an introductory interjection in a sentence. You do not need a comma after “sorry” when it is an adjective followed by a subordinate clause. Otherwise, it generally follows normal comma rules that other adjectives would based on where it appears in sentences.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the most common occurrences of the word “sorry” is at the beginning of a sentence, where it often acts as an interjection.<\/p>\n Usually, this is in fairly informal circumstances when the thing that you are apologizing for is not that bad.<\/p>\n For example<\/strong><\/a>, maybe you are sitting in your living room watching TV when you hear your roommate come home, go in the kitchen and start rummaging around for a clean glass.<\/p>\n That’s the very moment when you realize that you should have washed them.<\/p>\n You might call from the living room, “Sorry, I forgot to wash the dishes!”<\/p>\n Here are a few other examples of how you might casually use “sorry” as an interjection:<\/p>\n Sorry, we forgot to call you last night!<\/p>\n Sorry, I didn’t realize I was going to be so late.<\/p>\n Sorry, I should have helped you with the project.<\/p>\n Sorry, I didn’t hear you the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n So far, this probably looks pretty easy. However, “sorry” can also appear in sentences that look exactly like this but where it is an adjective followed by<\/a> a subordinate clause.<\/p>\n Keep reading for how to tell the difference!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Sorry” can also come before a subordinate clause. When this happens, it should not be followed by a comma.<\/p>\n A subordinate clause preceded by “sorry” often starts with the word “that”:<\/p>\n Sometimes, the “that” is left out of the subordinate clause and is understood instead:<\/p>\n I’m sorry I didn’t hear you calling me.<\/p>\n This can become confusing in informal writing or recording of informal speech, when sometimes the pronoun is left off and the sentence looks the same as when “sorry” is an interjection.<\/p>\n While this is technically nonstandard English, it is very common, and it is the way many people talk. Look at the difference in these two sentences:<\/p>\n Sorry, I didn’t hear the phone ringing.<\/p>\n Sorry I didn’t hear the phone ringing.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n How do you know when to place the comma and when to leave it off?<\/p>\n In the first example, where “sorry” is an introductory interrogative, the person is offering a direct apology followed by an explanation.<\/p>\n In the second example, the person is saying what they are apologizing for–that they didn’t hear the phone ringing.<\/p>\n In other words, the implication in the first sentence is “I am sorry I didn’t answer the phone, and here is the reason it happened.”<\/p>\n New information, the reason it happened, is being offered to the listener or reader.<\/p>\n The implication in the second sentence is that the person is apologizing for not hearing the phone.<\/p>\n There is no new information and this is not an explanation–the listener or reader knows that the person did not hear the phone.<\/p>\nDo you need a comma after “sorry”?<\/h2>\n
“Sorry” as an introductory interjection in a sentence<\/h3>\n
“Sorry” as an adjective followed by a subordinate clause<\/h3>\n