Cambridge directly records sorry + to-infinitive and sorry about + noun/event, supporting a comparison of the two attested complement patterns.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “sorry to do/say/hear…” when the adjective is completed by an infinitive action or event. Use “sorry about something” when the complement names the matter or situation that causes regret or sympathy.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termssorry to do, sorry about something
Further guidance
Core difference
Cambridge documents sorry + to-infinitive and sorry about + noun/event as standard patterns.
Style Boundary
Keep about before a noun/event complement; the “to” in sorry to do introduces an infinitive, not the preposition about.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Sorry↗ (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for sorry about + noun/event and sorry + to-infinitive.
Cambridge directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
