Name: Reacting to bad news in English | Learn English with Cambridge
Uploaded: 2021-08-13T04:26:21.000Z
Duration: 2 min 21 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Good morning, my name's George, and today we're going to learn how to react to bad news.

When reacting to extremely bad news, for example, divorce, sickness, or death, it can sound quite rude or unsympathetic to say 'that sucks', or 'that's a bummer'.

It's much better to say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.'

Or, 'Ah, that's terrible, I'm so sorry to hear that.'

'That sucks' or 'that's a bummer', are only used when reacting to annoying or inconvenient news.

For example, if Justin Bieber cancelled his concert, you might say, 'Oh, that sucks.'

Or if your friend's train is delayed, you might say, "Oh, that's a bummer."

We only use these expressions in informal situations.

And if you use them in a formal situation, for example, to a boss, it can sound quite rude.

So, it's better to say, 'Ah, that's a shame.'

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Reacting to bad news in English | Learn English with Cambridge

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extremely

situation

awful