COMMUNICATION

Admitting to
a mistake

LEVEL NUMBER LANGUAGE

Intermediate (B1) EN_B1_2093X ENGLISH

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 Learning outcomes

● I can identify and recall a

variety of vocabulary and
phrases related to mistakes.

● I can apologise for a mistake in

a variety of situations and say
what I’ll do differently next
time.

2
 Warm-up
Discuss your ideas as a class. How many different ideas can you think of?

You’re planning a
dinner party with
lots of people!

What are some things that can

go wrong before and during
the party?

3
 Reading
Our readers share some of their dinner party stories. What happened to each person?

Disasters at dinnertime!

Sue, 31, from Manchester Tommy, 44, from Sheffield Poppy, 25, from Glasgow
Once, I invited all my friends My partner, Jess, had her My brothers and I threw a
to my flat for dinner. We boss round for dinner. I dinner party for my parents’
were enjoying a few glasses brought out the soup and, wedding anniversary. We
of champagne in the lounge served Jess’ boss first, of baked them a cake and got
and I completely forgot to course. I didn’t realise the the measurements totally
take the chicken out of the pan was so heavy and wrong. We thought the
oven! I’d burnt the whole accidentally dropped it. The recipe said 2 tablespoons of
thing. In the end, we hot soup spilled everywhere baking soda, not teaspoons.
ordered pizzas and drank and onto her boss’ dress. The cake was very…erm…
more champagne. I’ll never Next time, I’ll be more bitter. I will never confuse
forget to use a timer again! careful with those big pans! tsp with tbsp, again!

4
 Read the article again
This time, focus more closely on the language by answering the questions in the boxes.

Sue, 31, from Manchester Tommy, 44, from Sheffield Poppy, 25, from Glasgow
Once, I invited all my friends My partner, Jess, had her My brothers and I threw a
to my flat for dinner. We boss round for dinner. I party for my parents’
were enjoying a few glasses brought out the soup and, wedding anniversary. We
of champagne in the lounge served Jess’ boss first, of baked them a cake and got
and I completely forgot to course. I didn’t realise the the measurements totally
take the chicken out of the pan was so heavy and wrong. We thought the
oven! I’d burnt the whole accidentally dropped it. The recipe said 2 tablespoons of
thing. In the end, we ordered hot soup spilled everywhere baking soda, not teaspoons.
pizzas and drank more and onto her boss’ dress. The cake was so bitter. I will
champagne. I’ll never forget Next time, I’ll be more never confuse tsp with tbsp,
to use a timer again! careful with those big pans! again!

Can you find examples of

What does each verb Are there any other words
verbs to describe a
mean? you don’t know?
mistake?

5
 Vocabulary check
Match the verbs to describe a mistake with the correct picture.

a I confused meat with fish!

1 2 3

b He forgot to take his keys!

c We burned the gravy!

4 5 6 d You spilled the red wine!

e She dropped the bowl!

f I got the password wrong!

6
 Write a sentence
Use each of the verbs correctly in a sentence. Be careful if you use to forget with another verb!

1 to confuse I confused salt with sugar in the recipe!

2 to forget (to)

3 to burn

4 to spill

5 to drop

6 to get wrong

7
 Real-life language

I accidentally dropped
your new wine glass!

Native speakers add this adverb

when explaining something they’ve
done wrong.

What does it mean? Where can it go

in the sentence?

8
 Admitting to a mistake
Look at the two examples from the text. Then, answer the question below.

We thought the recipe said two tablespoons of

baking soda, not two teaspoons!
Poppy

I dropped hot soup everywhere. I didn’t realise

the pan was so heavy!
Tommy

● We can also say we thought or didn’t

realise something when we admit to a
mistake.

● Look at the verb that comes next in the

sentence. Which tense is it in?

9
 Admit your mistake
Use I thought or I didn’t realise to admit to your mistake in each situation.

Your friend cannot drink milk and you’ve

1 I didn’t realise you were allergic to milk!
made them cheesecake for dessert.

You leave your friend’s expensive vase on the

2
ground and someone kicks it over.

You make a dinner reservation for the wrong

3
weekend with a person you find attractive.

You buy the incorrect kind of flour for the

4
dessert your partner wants to make.

You arrive at a party dressed as a clown and

5
everyone else is wearing normal clothes.

You buy flowers meant for a funeral for your

6
mother-in-law’s birthday.

10
 Making an apology

I’m so sorry, but I didn’t realise

that you were both vegetarian! I’ll
be sure to remember next time.

How do they
Why do they say
apologise?
In what situation next time?
could someone say
this? How do they
Which tense do
admit to their
they use here?
mistake?

11
 Accepting an apology
Use the words below to create five complete phrases.
Hint: Two of your sentences will begin with It’s…

Don’t worry… It’s… It wasn’t…

…your fault! It was an… …absolutely fine!

…honest mistake …no big deal …about it

12
 Role-play a situation
1. Choose a situation. Make some notes on what you’ll say.
2. Role-play the situation with a partner.

• Apologise for it

• Admit to the mistake

• Tell the person what

you’ll do differently
next time

1 2 3 4 5

Arrive 30 mins Organise a party Knock a glass of Don’t reply to a Buy a friend a
late to a team for Monday, not wine on a friend’s friend’s text for a very smelly
meeting at work Friday rug week perfume

13
 Discuss in breakout rooms or as a class
For breakout rooms, find one similarity between you and your partner.

Have you ever hosted

Would you call yourself a
a dinner party? Did
good cook or not?
anything go wrong?

How easy is it for you What do you consider to

to admit to a be a ‘good apology’? What
mistake? makes a bad one?

14
 Let’s reflect

● Can you identify and recall a

variety of vocabulary and phrases
related to mistakes?

● Can you apologise for a mistake in

a variety of situations and say what
you’ll do differently next time?

Your teacher will now make one suggestion

for improvement for each student.

15
End of lesson

Idiom

Eat some humble pie

Meaning: To admit that you were in fact… wrong!

Example: Tom had to eat some humble pie after his colleagues told him that his sales
figures weren’t higher than theirs.
Additional practice

Additional practice

17
 Sending an apology text
Additional practice

Your friend Choose one of the situations below and write a short
text message conversation. Apologise for the mistake
and say what you’ll do differently next time.
Hi there! How are you?

You

Hi, actually I wanted to … You dropped a friend’s You confused your

trophy and it smashed friend’s girlfriend with his
into two pieces mum
Your friend

Don’t worry! No big deal!

You

You forgot to wish your You got the date for a

…
friend a happy 30th friend’s party wrong and
birthday didn’t attend

18
 Categorise the phrases
Match the phrases with the correct category. Can you think of any other phrases?
Additional practice

Apologising
1 I didn’t realise and I …

2 It is not your fault.

Accepting an apology
3 I accidentally…

4 it is absolutely fine!

Compensating
5 Next time I will…

6 I am sorry I thought it was …

19
 Complete the sentences
Give as many different ideas as you can for each verb. Who can think of the most?
Additional practice

1 I confused… the time, the place, …

2 I forgot to…

3 I dropped…

4 I spilt…. on….

5 I got ….. wrong.

6 I accidentally burnt….

20
 What was the mistake?
Look at the pictures below. What do you think has happened in each one?
Additional practice

What do you think each person is

saying? What apology are they
making?

1 2 3 4

21
 Answer key

P.5: Sue forgot to take chicken out the oven

Tommy spilled soup on his partner’s boss.
Poppy got the measurements for baking soda wrong in a cake
Verbs: forget (to); drop; spill; confuse; get wrong; burn
P.6: 1. (c) 2. (e) 3. (a) 4. (d) 5. (b) 6. (f)
P. 12: Don’t worry about it!; It’s absolutely fine!; It wasn’t your fault; It was an honest
mistake; It’s no big deal;
P. 19: Apologising: 1, 3, 6
Accepting: 2, 4
Compensating: 5

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 Summary

● We can describe a mistake using a variety of verbs to state what has happened:
Ø It could be drop, spill, burn to describe a physical action
Ø Or, it could be confuse, forget or get wrong to describe something more abstract.

● We use the adverb accidentally to express that a mistake was not our intention or done on
purpose. We usually place it before the main verb:
Ø I accidentally bought the wrong ingredients at the supermarket ( = I did not intend to buy the wrong
ones; I made a simple error while there!).

● When explaining we’ve made a mistake, it can be helpful to follow this simple structure:
Ø Apologise by saying we are sorry .
Ø Admit to the mistake or say we thought or didn’t realise something.
Ø Say what we’ll do differently in the future.

● Be careful with the tenses of the verbs after thought or didn’t realise:
Ø I didn’t realise you wanted me to buy fresh herbs, and not frozen ones, at the supermarket!
Ø I thought you needed me to buy frozen herbs, and not fresh ones, at the supermarket!

23
 Vocabulary

to forget Don’t worry about it!

to confuse It’s no big deal!

to burn It was an honest mistake!

to spill It’s absolutely fine!

to drop It wasn’t your fault!

to get something wrong

accidentally

apology

I thought it said…

I didn’t realise it was..

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 Notes

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