The Sorry Grammar of Sorry Statements—

Which Statements Are Apologies? 

1.  I’m sorry it happened and I'm sorry for all the people, fans and family it hurt. Let's move on.

Many people will recognize these words from baseball player Pete Rose.  It’s a non-apology that withholds the nature of the offense being apologized for and even obscures the identify of the offender. 

2.  I’m sorry that gasoline is so expensive. 

This is not an apology unless it’s uttered by the CEO of ExxonMobil.  This structure is what my fifth grade grammar teacher called a content clause.  Gasoline may be too expensive, but I can’t apologize for it unless I have some responsibility in the matter.  I’m just expressing regret that the situation persists.

3.  I’m sorry for the poor kitten trapped on the roof. 

This is not an apology; it’s expressing sympathy for the plight of the kitten.    But unless I put the kitten on the roof, there is nothing to apologize for. 

4.  I’m sorry you were hurt. 

This is not an apology because the agent of the hurt is nowhere to be found.  If the active voice is substitute—“I’m sorry I hurt you”—we have the beginning of an apology.

5.  I’m sorry for my actions.  I behaved very badly and you have a right to be very angry. 

This is the true apology.  Only this structure constitutes an authentic apology, as opposed to a statement of regret about the truth of a proposition, or a statement of sympathy.  In grammatical terms, sorry is used with a preposition phrase headed by for where the preposition has as its complement a subjectless gerund-participial clause or a noun phrase denoting an act.