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What would be the answer for someone who asks "Sorry"? For example, If someone insulted or hurt me, and then asks "Sorry" or says "I am sorry, please".

If I want to tell him that I accept it (or alternatively if I want to refuse it), then what is the typical way to do that? How about "I forgive you" or "I don't forgive you", does it work here?

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3 Answers 3

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I forgive you would be for something sincere and serious, like a hurtful insult or even serious crimes.

For something formal or written, you can say I accept your apology.

A very common phrase, as @CookieMonster mentions, is It's OK or It's all right.

Sometimes, people apologize out of politeness, just in case the other person might be offended. In such a situation, people often respond with No worries or No problem. For example, if you texted your friend that you were running ten minutes late to meet her, hopefully she would say, "No worries!"

Another very common phrase is No need to apologize.

There are other more colorful expressions, such as:

Don't worry about it.

Forget about it!

Don't even stress!

Don't even trip!

If you don't forgive someone, you can usually add "not" or "don't" to the phrases above:

I don't forgive you.

It's not OK.

That's not good enough!

Talk to the hand!

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    "it's all right" is not the correct spelling, as far as I know. Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 0:57
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    I don't think "alright" is a real word, at least not in the U.S.
    – Ringo
    Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 0:59
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    I always thought that "alright" is an adjective that means "fine". "all right" literally means "100% correct" or "each one in a group is correct". Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 1:02
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    "Alright" is a variant spelling of "all right", in all of the uses of that expression. It's less formal (and some would argue incorrect), but it's commonplace and growing in usage, although still less common than "all right".
    – PMV
    Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 1:17
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    Seems like everything I learned as a student is just being thrown out the window. :-( The rule I learned was that it's "all right" and definitely NOT "alright" -- that just because a lot of people misspell it doesn't make it OK to misspell it. Now that sounds old-fashioned, but it makes a lot of sense to me on a certain level.
    – Ringo
    Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 1:43
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In Canada, it's acceptable to respond back to "Sorry" with "Sorry," especially if one person has bumped into the other person on the street or something like that. This is distinctly Canadian though and other English speakers sometimes make fun of Canadians for overusing the word sorry.

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It's alright.

It's okay.

No need to apologize.

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