How to Arrange a Meeting in English: Useful Phrases and Exercises

Have you attended a lot of meetings in the last month? No matter where you are (working from
home or at an office), I’m sure you got some invitations to attend business meetings in English
recently. In this guide, we cover some phrases and words that can help you arrange a meeting
with your managers and peers. We will also present you with a few phrases you can use to
reschedule a meeting, because unexpected things can happen to any of us, right?

Reasons for meeting someone

Why do people meet in the workplace? Let’s go over some of the most common reasons for
having a meeting. Of course, this all depends on the industry and department that you work in
but is common to meet people to discuss company strategy, to prepare for a conference, to
interview candidates for a job opening, to negotiate deals, to discuss the financial situation of the
company, to review your performance at work, besides many others.

You can also meet with your manager on a weekly or daily basis to simply check in. A check-in
meeting is a way for managers to get updates on current projects, blockers, and challenges their
team is facing. Also, it is a good opportunity to reinforce goals.

Dialogue: arranging a meeting to go over a report

It’s Monday. Julie is Paul’s manager, and she wants to arrange a meeting with him. Listen to the
dialogue below and take notes. We will ask you some comprehension questions afterwards.
Now, answer the questions below about meetings in English:
1) Where did Paul go on the weekend?
a. He went to a Japanese restaurant.
b. He went to a fast food restaurant.
c. He went to a Chinese restaurant.
2) Why does Julie want to arrange a meeting with him?
a. She wants to discuss the latest sales report.
b. She wants to talk about his performance.

3) Who else is she going to invite to attend the meeting?

a. Megan. She is an intern.
b. Megan. She is the project manager.
c. Mary. She is an intern.

4) When does Julie want to meet Paul?

a. Wednesday at 2 p.m.
b. Thursday at 2 p.m.
c. Tuesday at 2 p.m.

5) Why can’t Paul meet on this day?

a. Because he has a meeting with the Communications team.
b. Because he has a meeting with the Marketing team.
c. Because he has a meeting with the Product team.

6) When do they agree to meet?

a. Friday at 10 a.m.
b. Monday at 3 p.m.
c. Thursday at 10 a.m.
15 useful expressions for meetings in English
Let’s take a look at 15 useful phrases for you to arrange a meeting in English, suggest times for
meetings, and confirm a meeting.

If you want to suggest a day or time for a meeting, you can say phrases like:
How about _______ (day or time)?
Are you available on ________ (day) at ________ (time)?
How does ________ (day or time) sound?
What about _________ (day or time)? Does that work?

Now, if you want to say that you are available at said day or time, here are some useful
phrases:
Yes, I’m available on _________ (day) at __________ (time).
________ (day or time) sounds fine.
________ (day or time) works for me.

If you are not available, you can choose from one of these expressions:
Unfortunately, I can’t make it on _________ (day/time).
I’m sorry, but I have another meeting.
I’m sorry, but I have another appointment.
I can’t make it.

In order to confirm a meeting, you can say:

Great. See you then!
That’s perfect. See you _________ (day).
Looking forward to meeting you.
Something comes up…
Unexpected things happen and sometimes we need to cancel or reschedule a meeting. Whenever
you need to reschedule or cancel a meeting, here are some expressions that can help you:
Could we postpone this meeting to _________ (day/time)?
Sorry, something’s come up. Can you make it on _________ (day) instead?
I apologize for the late notice, but I won’t be able to attend the meeting today.
I’m sorry, but I’m in traffic and won’t make it to the meeting. Tomorrow is open for me, so we
could meet. Let me know if that works for you.

Recap: days and times

The seven days of the week were named after the sun, the moon and five other planets: Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Did you know Monday was named after the moon?
SUNDAY: the first day of the week was named after the Sun.
MONDAY: the first business day of the week was named after the Moon.
TUESDAY: Tuesday was named after the God of War known as Mars. Tuesday comes from this
name in Germanic, which is Tiu. Therefore, we have Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY: the Roman god that the fourth day of week was named after is Mercury, or
Woden in Germanic. Woden’s day became Wednesday.
THURSDAY: Thor is the god of Thunder. Thor’s day eventually became Thursday.
FRIDAY: Venus is the goddess of love and beauty for the Romans and Fria is the Teutonic’s
goddess of love. Friday comes from the Germanic name as well.
SATURDAY: Saturday comes from Saturn, the God of agriculture.
Weekdays and the weekend
Weekdays are days in which business operations are conducted (usually Monday to Friday). The
weekend days are Saturday and Sunday.

Prepositions and articles

We always use the preposition on when talking about the days of the week.
I never work on Mondays.
I will go to Paris on Friday night.
I went to that new restaurant on Sunday. I loved it!
We don’t use the article ‘the’ before days of the week, unless we are talking about a specific
day. Here are some examples of situations in which you would use ‘the’ before the day of the
week you are referring to:

Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

She will go to Australia on the first Monday of October.
We only use the article ‘the’ when we are talking to a specific day.

Today, tomorrow, yesterday

When talking about days, we often use the words ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’ and ‘yesterday’. Today refers
to the present, tomorrow to the future, and yesterday to the past. Remember to use the right
verb with each one of them.

Today
Today is my birthday. I am turning 30!
Today is going to be a busy day. I have so much to do!
Yesterday
Yesterday was so cold I had to wear a sweater.
Yesterday was a slow day at the clinic.

Tomorrow
Tomorrow is Joan’s party. Are you excited about it?
I know you had a bad day today, but tomorrow will be better!
The day before yesterday
I had an appointment with Dr. Williams the day before yesterday.
I went to Denver the day before yesterday.

The day after tomorrow

I’m meeting Julia the day after tomorrow.
She is hosting a baby shower the day after tomorrow.

Days and dates

We always use ordinal numbers to talk about dates. The table below can help you revise the
ordinal numbers.
How to ask what day it is
What day is today/tomorrow? It’s Monday or It’s Monday tomorrow.
What’s the day today/tomorrow? Today is Tuesday or Tomorrow is Tuesday.

How to ask the date

What’s the date today/tomorrow? It’s August 3rd.
What’s today’s date/tomorrow’s date? Tomorrow is July 21st.

Practice time: answer these questions.

• What’s your favorite day of the week? Why?

• What’s your least favorite day of the week?
• Do you work only on weekdays, or do you also work on weekends?
• What day is tomorrow?
• Do you like Mondays?
Listen to Julia while she talks about her schedule in New York City. Then fill in the blanks.

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