A01 cohe4573 01 se fm. Qxd

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statement of positive opinion/feeling or agreement (I’d love to come);
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statement of empathy (I realize you are in a difficult situation);
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pause fillers (um, well ); and
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gratitude/appreciation (thanks so much for the invite).
Again, this research-based information can be woven into pragmatics
instruction. For further information and examples of refusals in Amer-
ican and British English, Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, and Spanish,
visit the site at: http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/refusals/index.html.
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A video demonstration of an innovative ESL lesson plan
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that has visualized
mitigating refusal strategies can be found at: http://www.teachertube.com/
uprofile.php?UID=20621.
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Apologies
In apologizing, the speaker/writer recognizes the infraction or offense caused
through his/her fault and attempts to repair the relationship with the 
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Beebe et al. (1990).
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Accessed on December 10, 2009.
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Archer (in press).
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Accessed on December 10, 2009.

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D E S C R I B I N G S P E E C H A C T S : L I N K I N G R E S E A R C H A N D P E D A G O G Y
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listener/reader. The situation may be fairly tense if the infraction is large 
or if the listener is in a more powerful position on the social scale than the
speaker. What are some routinized patterns in apologies in English and what
strategies work most effectively to repair and maintain a good relationship
with the listener/reader?
Functions for the speech act of apologizing
In American English people typically use apologies for a variety of reasons
such as:
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to say that they are sorry;
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to explain why the offense happened; and
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to make a repair for the offense and maintain a good relationship with
the addressee.
Strategies for apologizing
Complex speech acts like apologies actually consist of a set of strategies that
are used by competent speakers of the language with some regularity. There
are five relatively typical strategies for making an apology:
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