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I am letting my co-worker know that I can't attend tomorrow's meeting as I have to go to a doc's appointment. I wonder if the following sentence is grammatically correct:

"I can't attend the meeting for tomorrow at 12 PM as I have a doc appointment that conflicts"

and I wonder if there are any other alternative ways of saying that?

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  1. You should eliminate "for", change "doc" to "doctor" and substitute "noon" for "12 PM". So your example should be:

I can't attend the meeting tomorrow at noon as I have a doctor appointment that conflicts.

That's a perfectly reasonable way of saying this. There are many other possible variations. If I were going to change it, I would opt for something shorter and simpler, such as:

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow at noon, so I can't attend the meeting.

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  • Agreed, though in BrE I would say doctor's (or medical) appointment. I share your preference for noon, although 12 pm is all too commonly used.
    – Kate Bunting
    Sep 8, 2022 at 8:09
  • thanks for the reply! I wonder why we need to substitute "noon" for "12PM"? Does "at 12 PM" sound unnatural or it is confusing as people might think it is 12 o'clock at night? what if it is 1 PM then there is no ambiguity and in that case I can say "at 1 pm" right?
    – Joji
    Sep 8, 2022 at 16:44
  • Maybe it's an American English thing, but I think most people would say "Noon." You can say "12," but you probably wouldn't say "PM" because it's so obvious (you wouldn't have a doctor appointment or a meeting at midnight.)
    – swmcdonnell
    Sep 9, 2022 at 12:49
  • I take that back. Either "noon" or "12" are fine and probably equally as common.
    – swmcdonnell
    Sep 9, 2022 at 12:51
  • 12pm is in theory confusing, because it could be noon or midnight. One of them is correct, but I'm not sure which one :-) Of course in this context it is fine since people don't have meetings or doctor appointments at midnight. An insurance contract for example may end at 11:59pm to avoid that confusion.
    – gnasher729
    Sep 9, 2022 at 17:34

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