The Difference in Meaning Between Regret to Do Something and Regret Doing Something

Teacher: Welcome to daily tips on learning English. Today's tip is on the difference in meaning between regret to do something and regret doing something.

Teacher: Let's take an example. What's the difference between I regret to tell you that your father died and I regret telling you that your father died.

Teacher: Well, I regret to tell, I regret to say are used to inform someone of some bad news in a polite way.

Teacher: Before you tell someone bad news, it's polite to warn the person that he's about to get some bad news by telling him you feel sorry about it. Regret too must be followed by a verb which means say, for example, tell, inform, announce, report, verbs that do not have this meaning can not be used.

Teacher: On the other hand, regret doing something means you wish you had not done something.

Teacher: So I regret telling you that your father died means you wish you had not told someone his father died. Maybe because after hearing the bad news, he tried to kill himself or maybe because it was a mistake that his father had not actually died.

Teacher: Let's look another example. I regret to inform you that the basketball game has been canceled. In this sentence, I am telling someone some bad news. The bad news is that there will be no basketball game tonight.

Teacher: Here is another example. I regret eating so much. This sentence means that I ate too much in the past and now I wish I had not eaten so much. So if you have to tell someone bad news, say I regret to tell you. But if you wish you had not done something, say I regret doing it. And if you are glad that you did something, say I don't regret doing it.

Teacher: This has been today's daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.