Useful Telephone Expressions Speak English Fluently on the Phone

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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this

lesson I’m going to talk about some

phone related expressions I’ve chosen

some key verbs that we use when we’re

using the phone so today I’m going to

explain the meanings of these verbs and

give some example sentences so you can

use them too okay let’s begin first

let’s start with the first maybe the

basic action of using a phone the first

verb is to pick up to pick up not pick

up but pick up separately pick up our

separate words to pick up the phone to

pick up the phone means to answer an

incoming call so this means when your

phone begins buzzing literally we

physically pick up the phone and answer

the call so meaning we receive the

incoming call so this on a mobile phone

refers to this action to pick up the

phone and answer the phone before mobile

phones when phones were attached to the

wall or when phones were like a physical

object on a table he meant physically

picking up the receiver and putting it

to one’s ear to answer the phone so in

example sentence can someone pick up the

phone can someone pick up the phone so

answer the phone someone’s calling okay

let’s go to the opposite then the next

verb is to hang up to hang up again this

is two words hang and up to hang up so

to hang up the phone means to end a

phone call so this word actually this

has a bit of history then so before

mobile phones when phones were you know

objects that were in rooms when we

finished the call we would place the

receiver back on the phone stand there

was a stand for the phone receiver to

rest on so it was like we had to hang

the receiver on its stand or when phones

were attached to walls as well we would

hang it on the wall so we use to hang up

to refer to ending a phone call however

even though we don’t hang up our mobile

phones we just push a button

bull phones we still use the verb hang

up actually to refer to ending the call

of course you can say to end a call as

well but hang up is still very very

commonly used so you can use it too this

means to end a call in example she hung

up on me she hung up on me

so here past tense hung up hang up

becomes hung up in past tense hu ng hung

up okay let’s go along to the next verb

to call to call a very basic verb for

this lesson to call just means to

communicate by phone we can also use to

call for like Skype calls or other video

service calls anything that you use like

a mobile phone or some kind of video

service to do you can use to call to

refer to that that means like FaceTime

or whatever any other similar

application you can use call to refer to

that so to communicate via phone is to

call so an example of this let’s call

the customer service number let’s call

the customer service number okay let’s

move along to the next verb which is to

return a call to return a call to return

a call means to call a person who called

you the nuance here is that you missed

the call so if I make a phone call I

tried to call you but you are not

available I hang up the phone later when

you are available you call me you can

say I’m returning your call

that is called returning someone’s call

so I called you first you missed it so

you’re calling me now you’ve returned my

call another example of this I’m

returning your call regarding your order

I’m returning your call

regarding in other words about your

order so to return a call is usually

because you missed the call the first

call so let’s look at the next word

which is to call back this is very very

similar to to return a call however this

is a key difference you may not have

missed the call when you use the

expression to call back so yes when you

use call back it means you are returning

someone’s

someone called you however maybe in an

example situation I call you and you are

like able to pick up your phone you can

answer but you’re busy you’re not able

to talk in that moment in that case you

can ask is it okay if I call you back in

other words can I return your call a

little bit later so in that case you did

not miss my call but you can’t talk

right now

so we can use the verb call back in a

situation like this so let’s look at

another example I’m in a meeting can I

call you back in an hour so here you’ll

see we put you between call and back can

I call you back can I call him back and

I call her back in an hour

so you can include who are you going to

call put that here between call and back

okay let’s move along then to the next

expression to put someone on hold to put

someone on hold means to keep someone on

the phone line but without talking so I

think most people have probably

experienced this especially when calling

a customer service phone line so you

make the call and you have to wait for a

long time there’s usually music playing

that’s being on hold I’m on hold in that

situation however sometimes the operator

picks up the phone and the operator

needs to take care of some things needs

to do some tasks or confirm your

information they’ll say is it okay if I

put you on hold so meaning the operator

is going to put you back like put you

back on hold keep you waiting but will

not cut the call so the operator may say

I’ll put you on hold I mean please wait

in other words so an example of this

I’ll put you on hold while I confirm the

information so this shows you’re just

waiting you’re in a waiting period all

right let’s go along to the next

expression to go to answering machine to

go to answering machine this means the

call is answered by a machine so again

this expression is actually a little bit

old-fashioned but

for mobile phones there was a separate

machine that was used only for answering

calls when someone was unavailable to

pick up the phone so there were actual

like tapes or when it became digital

they were digital answering machines but

they were specifically for picking off

the phone when someone wasn’t at home

for example an answering machine but

today of course we have mobile phones

and we don’t have answering machines

actual machines that we use but we can

still use this expression if you like so

here yes call is answered by a machine

or in this case maybe like an automatic

voice system answers the call so an

example of this he didn’t answer my call

went to the answering machine my call

went to the answering machine so that

means like my call was received by an

automated voice system ok great let’s go

on to the next expression which is to

leave a voicemail to leave a voicemail

this is kind of interesting this means

to send a voice message to send a voice

message so this is used typically after

this step so your call is answered by an

answering machine or a an automated

voice system and you want to leave a

message for the person you can say I’m

going to like send a voice message I

suppose but actually the best expression

to use is leave a voicemail to leave a

voicemail so you leave the voicemail on

the answering machine you leave the

voicemail with the automated answering

system an example here I left her a

voicemail hopefully she’ll call back so

past tense here I left her a voicemail

left her voicemail so we do we always

use this verb to leave to leave a

voicemail to leave a voicemail so let’s

go on to the last item on this list to

dial to dial something this refers to

inputting numbers for the phone number

so a long time ago with rotary phones

people would actually use a dial it was

a circular dial where the numbers were

input and we had to wait while people

actually waited for the dial to spin

back to its original

position before in putting the next

number then we graduated to using

keypads and of course now we use keypads

that are digital on our mobile phones

perhaps so to dial refers to the act of

inputting numbers into the phone so here

dial one eight hundred five five five

four four two two two reaches is a great

example of how this might be used so

dial in other words means input these

numbers to reach us

so to dial refers to inputting numbers

in that way we don’t use dial in

situations outside of phone calls though

so we wouldn’t say like dial information

into your computer and necessarily we

use it for phones a lot so you might

hear this or you might just hear call us

at this number so just a little history

point there perhaps okay

but those are a few words that are

related to phones and phone use so I

hope that those are helpful for you as

you use the phone and as you talk about

your phone related communications of

course if you have any questions or

comments or want to try to use one of

these words in a sentence please feel

free to do so in the comment section of

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other good English study resources thank

you very much for watching this lesson

and I will see you again soon bye

you