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Apology or apologies

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Latest post Wed, May 13 2009 8:46 AM by Anonymous. 3 replies.
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rubab_parinaz  +  621618 Thu, 25 Dec 08 08:13 PM
hello,
Can someone please help me with this:
which is correct 1) please accept our apologies 2) please accept our apology

I posted a question more than a month ago about business letters but did not get any reply. I hope you will be kind enough to answer this one.
Thank you in advance.
rubab_parinaz
Joined on Mon, Nov 24 2008
New Member 04
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Grammar Geek  +  621630 Thu, 25 Dec 08 08:22 PM

Hello,

Either one is okay. If there is only one thing you are apologizing for, then go with #2.

 
Grammar Geek
Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006
Veteran Member 19,652
Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!
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Anonymous, 276 days ago
 Hi,

 Both are grammatically correct, however the difference is not to do with how many things you are apologizing for, it has to do with how many people are apologizing.  Because you are apologizing on behalf of your company (dept, team, etc.) you ought to use 'apologies'.  So,

'please accept my apology' vs. 'please accept our apologies'

 However, it is quite common to hear 'please accept my apologies' and I think this denotes that the speaker wants to apologize repeatedly or profusely (as in "I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry!")

 

Hope this helps,

 

Brian

Anonymous, 192 days ago
very clear, thank you so much.
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