Lesson 5: Telephone English – Part 1

Many students, even at the advanced level, HATE talking on the phone in
English. This lesson will teach you phrases that you can use with confidence in
any phone call. Part 2 of this lesson, tomorrow, will help train your listening.

Let's listen to two example phone calls to see and hear the phrases in context.

Phone Call #1
"Paramount Marketing, Amanda speaking. How can I help you?"

"Hello, this is Peter Buirski. Could I speak with Linda Greene, please?

"I'll put you through – please hold."

[...]

"I'm sorry, Linda's not in her office right now. Would you like to leave a
message?"

"Yes, please ask her to call Peter Buirski from Starwood Photography Studio
as soon as possible. It's rather urgent."

"Of course. Could you spell your last name for me?"

"Sure, it's B as in Boston, U - I - R - S as in September, K - I, and my number is

324-0506."

"Let me read that back to you - Peter Buirski from Storwood Photography
Studio - "

"Actually, it's Starwood, not Storwood."

"Starwood - got it. And the number is 324-0506."

"That's right."
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"OK, Mr. Buirski, I'll give Linda the message."

"Thanks. When do you think she’ll be back?"

"She's probably still out for lunch, but she should be back any minute now."

"OK, thanks. Bye."

Phone Call #2
"Hello?"

"Hi Peter, this is Linda Greene returning your call."

"Hi Linda, thanks for getting back to me. We have a major problem - the new
brochures we ordered have a mistake in our company address."

"Oh, that's not good. Please e-mail me the corrections and I'll order new
brochures for you right away. You need 5,000, right?"

"Yes, and we need them for a conference next week. There's not much time, so
would it be possible to have them shipped directly to the conference
location?"

"Sure, no problem - just send me the details. Is there anything else I can help
you with?"

"No, I think that’s it. Thanks for your help, Linda. Let's touch base on this again
in a couple of days."

"Sounds good, Peter. Talk to you soon."

"Bye."

From these two conversations, you can learn four types of phrases for
phone calls:

• Beginning the call

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 • Taking & leaving messages
• Clarifying information
• Finishing the call

#1 - Beginning a call
When you call a company and speak to a receptionist, as in the first
conversation, you can use this phrase:

• Hello, this is (your name) from (your company). Could I speak with
_________?

When you call a person directly, as in the second conversation, you can use
this phrase:

• Hi (person’s name) this is (your name) (returning your call).

Add the phrase "returning your call" if you are calling the person back after
they called you and left a message.

You can also add the phrase "I'm calling about..." or “I’m calling to…” to
introduce the topic of your call or the action you want to take, for example:

• "I'm calling about the brochures we need for the conference."

• "I'm calling about the financial report you sent me yesterday."
• "I'm calling to schedule the next health and safety inspection.”
• “I’m calling to find out when my order will be ready.”

In the first conversation, the receptionist used the phrase "I'll put you through
– please hold" to connect the call. A few other options for connecting a call to
another person are:

• I'll transfer you.

• One moment, please.

#2 - Taking & leaving messages

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There are several possible phrases you can use to say someone is unavailable:

• "I'm sorry, Linda's not in her office right now."

• "I'm sorry, Linda's on another call at the moment."
(say this if Linda is in her office, but she's talking on the phone with
someone else)
• "I'm sorry, Linda has left for the day."
(say this if Linda already left work and went home)
• "I'm sorry, Linda's currently out of town."
(say this if Linda is traveling; she is outside the city)

Then you can say "Would you like to leave a message?"

To leave a message for somebody, start with "Please" followed by the

verb ask, tell, or remind. Each verb is followed by "him" (if the message is for
a man) or "her" (if the message is for a woman):

• "Please ask him/her to call me."

• "Please tell him/her that the documents are ready."
• "Please remind him/her that he/she has a meeting tomorrow."

You can also phrase your request as a question with “Could you…?”

• Could you ask her to call me?

#3 - Clarifying information
In the first call, the receptionist asks Peter:

• "Could you spell your last name for me?"

The verb "spell" means to say the letters of the word. Peter replies:

• "B as in Boston, U - I - R - S as in September, K - I.

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It's common to use phrases like "B as in Boston" and "S as in September" with
letters that can be frequently confused with other letters, such as B and D, S
and F, or M and N.

To confirm the information, you can say:

• "Let me read that back to you..."

• “Let me see if I got that right…”

She makes a mistake when she says the name of Peter's company, so Peter
makes a correction by saying:

• "Actually, it's Starwood, not Storwood."

Be careful not to confuse the words currently and actually.

• Currently means "now" or "at the moment."

For example, "I'm currently taking the Business English Course."
• Actually is used to make a correction.
For example, "Actually, Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish."

If you have difficulty hearing or understanding the other person on the phone,
you can use these phrases:

• "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

• "Would you mind speaking up a bit?”
(say this if the person is speaking too quietly)
• "Could you speak a little more slowly?"
(say this if the person is speaking too fast)

Sometimes you can't hear the other person because the telephone connection
is bad. In these cases, you can say:

• "You're breaking up. Could you call me back?"

• "We have a bad connection - I can barely hear you."

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If the bad connection causes the call to fail, you can call the other person back
and say this:

• "Hi, it's Peter again. Looks like we got cut off."

"Cut off" is a phrasal verb that means the call failed.

#4 - Finishing a phone call

You can ask these questions towards the end of the phone call to see if the
other person is finished and satisfied with the call:

• Is there anything else I can help you with?

• Is there anything else I can do for you?

To conclude the conversation, it’s good to thank the other person:

• Thanks for calling.

• Thanks for your help.
• Thank you for your time.

If you want to promise future contact, you can say:

• "Let's touch base on this again in a couple of days."

(this means "let's get in contact on this topic again in 2-3 days")
• "Talk to you soon."

Then you can finish the conversation with one of these "final phrases":

• Bye.
• Take care.
• Have a great day!
Response: You too. Bye.

You've finished Lesson 5! Try the quiz to test your memory of the telephone
phrases, and log in tomorrow for part 2 of the telephone English lesson.

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Quiz: Lesson 5
1) "I'm sorry, Mr. Smith is not available. Would you like to _______ a message?"

A. have
B. give
C. leave

2) "Is there anything else I can __________ you with?”

A. call
B. help
C. speak

3) "I'm calling _______ the contract I sent you yesterday - did you receive it?"

A. about
B. to
C. with

4) "_______ I speak with Bob Johnson, please?"

A. Could
B. Do
C. Will

5) "Let's ________ base on this first thing tomorrow morning."

A. take
B. teach
C. touch

6) "Please ________ her about her dentist appointment on Thursday at noon."

A. remember
B. remind

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 C. reply

7) "Andrea's out of _________ for a few days - she'll be back on the 10th."

A. area
B. time
C. town

8) "_______ care."

A. Make
B. Take
C. Have

9) "One moment, I'll put you __________ to his office."

A. through
B. by
C. in

10) "Could you _______ your last name for me?"

A. ask
B. spell
C. tell

11) "I'm sorry, David has _______ for the day."

A. went
B. lost
C. left

12) "Please ask her to call me ___________ possible - it's an emergency."

A. as well as
B. as long as
C. as soon as

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Quiz Answers: Lesson 5

1.C, 2.B, 3.A, 4.A, 5.C, 6.B, 7.C, 8.B, 9.A, 10.B, 11.C, 12.C

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