a point of confusion i’ve seen multiple times in classes is the difference between apology the noun and apologize the verb; specifically students mix up apologies (the plural of apology) and apologizes (the third person singular of apologize).
fun esl practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
earlier today, the noun apology was trending after former u.s. president bill clinton appeared on the u.s. talk show today and said he has no plans for a personal apology to his former intern monica lewinsky for the scandal they were both a part of during clinton’s presidency at the end of the 90s.
i have never talked to her. but i did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that i was sorry. that’s very different. the apology was public.
bill clinton: the public apology was enough. (today.com)
similarly, the following headline is about a controversy at this year’s australian open involving tennis legend serena williams and tennis unknown tennys sandgren.
Serena Williams: Tennys Sandgren owes ‘entire group of people’ apology over tweets
owe an apology is a commonly used phrase that means serena thought sandgren should apologize.
serena williams & her daughter
after getting the public’s attention by making it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, sandgren’s twitter account generated controversy for a negative tweet about serena, links to various alt-right (ultra-conservative, white nationalist) sites and insensitive comments about the lgbtq community. tennys scrubbed (erased) his old tweets and posted an apology.
tennys sandgren (scroll.in)
the song apologize by timbaland and one republic is an example of the action of apologizing. the chorus says
it’s too late to apologize
check this headline about nba superstar kevin durant being ejected from a game earlier this season that uses apologizes, the third person singular form of apologize. it is pronounced uh-PAH-luh-ji-zuz.
Kevin Durant apologizes to official: ‘I was being an asshole’
kevin durant complaining to a referee. later he apologized. (carlos avila gonzalez, the chronicle)
and this one from foxnews about youtube personality logan paul‘s controversial video from the beginning of this year
Logan Paul apologizes for ‘suicide forest’ video: What to know about the YouTube star
logan paul (getty images for iheartmedia/emma mcintyre)
make sure that u recognize that apologizes is an action, NOT the plural of apology.
the plural of apology is apologies (uh-PAH-luh-jeez). it appears in the title and is part of the first line of one of nirvana‘s best known songs…
what else should I be?
all apologies
my apologies is good to write in an email or a text. my apologizes is a mistake.
can u give any other examples using apology, apologies, apologize or apologizes? share them under leave a reply
