“Kazu emailed and said he had to cancel his trip.”
Your friend Kazu was going to come to visit you from out of town, but he emailed to say that he wouldn't be able to make it. You tell your friend Jamie who lives near you and also knows Kazu that Kazu isn't coming. This is what you tell her.
Kazu emailed and said he had to cancel his trip.
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(someone) (emailed/called/wrote) and said (clause)
When someone writes to or calls you, they give you some kind of message. When you are telling someone else about that message, and you also want to tell how the message was sent (by email, phone, etc.), you say "___ called and said ___" or "___ emailed and said ___"
Christie called and said she'd be 20 minutes late.
(someone) had to (do something)
When you say that someone "had to" do something, it means that someone made them do it or that they had a really strong reason to do it.
In the situation above, where Kazu cancelled his trip to visit you, everyone uses the phrase "had to" because it would seem rude to say that he cancelled the trip because he wanted to cancel it. So Kazu will usually say that he "had to" cancel, and when you're describing it, you'll also say that he "had to" cancel the trip.
cancel (a trip)
When you have plans to take a trip, and then you decide not to go, you have "cancelled" the trip.
Other things that you can cancel include:
- cancel an appointment
- cancel a meeting
- cancel your membership to something