{"id":73304,"date":"2020-03-23T08:58:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T08:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=73304"},"modified":"2020-03-23T08:59:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T08:59:46","slug":"telephone-english-how-to-leave-a-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/telephone-english-how-to-leave-a-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Telephone English | How To Leave A Message?"},"content":{"rendered":"

British people usually give their name or number when answering a call. To ask for a person you can say\u00a0‘Could I speak to\u2026?<\/b>\u00a0In American English, it is also possible to say\u00a0Could I speak with\u2026?<\/b><\/p>\n

Saying who you are<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Hello. This is Jane. (Not usually I am Jane.)<\/li>\n

    Could I speak to Alice, please?<\/ul>\n

    If it is Alice on the other side, she will say\u00a0‘Speaking.’<\/b>\u00a0Or\u00a0This is Alice.<\/b>\u00a0In American English it is also possible to say\u00a0This is she\/he.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Asking who somebody is<\/h3>\n

    To know who is answering the call you may ask any of the following.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Hello. Who is that? (US Who is this?)<\/li>\n
    • Who am I speaking to?<\/li>\n
    • Who is that speaking?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      If somebody is not there<\/h3>\n

      Sometimes the person wanted may not be there. You can use an expression with\u00a0‘I am afraid’\u00a0<\/b>to say that somebody is not there. To take a message say\u00a0Can I take a message?<\/b>\u00a0OR\u00a0Would you like to leave a message?<\/b><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Hello. Susan Fernandez.<\/li>\n
      • Hello. This is Jane. Could I speak to Alice, please?<\/li>\n
      • I am afraid she is not in at the moment. Can I take a message?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        If you want to leave a message say\u00a0Can I leave a message?<\/b><\/p>\n

        If you want to ask the person to ring you back you can say\u00a0Could you ask her\/him to call\/ring me back?<\/b>\u00a0OR\u00a0Could you just tell her Jane called?<\/b><\/p>\n

        Asking people to wait<\/h3>\n

        You can use any of the following expressions.<\/p>\n

          \n
        • Just a moment.<\/li>\n
        • Hold the line, please.<\/li>\n
        • Hold on a moment.<\/li>\n
        • Hang on. (Informal)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          Wrong numbers<\/h5>\n
            \n
          • I think you have got the wrong number.<\/li>\n
          • I am sorry. I have got the wrong number.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Bad Connection<\/h3>\n

            A bad line can cause trouble while telephoning. You may want to hang up and try again later. You can use the following expressions.<\/p>\n

              \n
            • Could you speak louder? It is a bad line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Americans will say It is a bad connection.<\/p>\n

                \n
              • It is a very bad connection. I will hang up and call again.<\/li>\n
              • I called you earlier, but I couldn\u2019t get through.<\/li>\n
              • Whenever I call you, I get a busy signal.<\/li>\n
              • Why do I keep getting a busy signal when I call you?<\/li>\n
              • I called you earlier, but I was getting a busy signal.<\/li>\n
              • Is your phone out of order?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                If the person you want to talk to is not available, you may want to leave a message. Leaving a message is pretty easy. All that you need to do is to give your name, the time, the reason for your calling and your telephone number.<\/p>\n

                The telephone rings. If the person you want to talk to is not available on the line, you might hear an auto response.<\/p>\n

                Here is an example of the auto response and a message you can leave.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                • Hello. This is Peter. I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m not in at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  After you hear the beep, leave your message. Start with your name and then state the time of your calling.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  • Hello. This is John. It is 4 pm. We are going to the theatre tonight. I am calling to find out if you are interested in coming with us. Would you mind calling me back? I can be reached at 932-3615. I will talk to you later. Bye.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    Variations are possible.<\/p>\n

                    While giving your name<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    Hello. This is Alice. \/ Hello. My name is Alice.<\/p>\n

                    While stating the time<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    It is nine o\u2019clock in the morning \/ evening.
                    \nIt is 10 am.
                    \nIt is half past three in the afternoon.
                    \nIt is about noon.<\/p>\n

                    While stating the reason for calling<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    I am calling to find out if you are free this evening.
                    \nI am ringing to see if are interested in coming over for lunch with us.
                    \nI am calling to let you know that I won\u2019t be able to meet you tomorrow.
                    \nI am calling to tell you that I have just received a call from your landlord.<\/p>\n

                    Make a request to call you back<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    Could you call \/ ring me back?
                    \nCould you call \/ ring me back at \/ on 370 2854?
                    \nWould you mind calling me back?<\/p>\n

                    Leaving your number<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    My number is 670 8932.
                    \nYou can call me at \/ on 670 8932.
                    \nI can be reached at \/ on 670 8932.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    British people usually give their name or number when answering a call. To ask for a person you can say\u00a0‘Could I speak to\u2026?\u00a0In American English, it is also possible to say\u00a0Could I speak with\u2026?...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,2146],"class_list":["post-73304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speaking","tag-english-speaking-lessons","tag-telephone-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73306,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73304\/revisions\/73306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}