TELEPHONE ENGLISH (TAKING OR LEAVING A MESSAGE)

Good morning! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin.

Today we are going to continue with telephone English expressions.

So far we have looked at greetings, asking to speak to other people, identifying yourself and making the connection.

Today we include expressions for taking and leaving messages.

If the person you ask for is not available, following are some expressions you may hear:
⇒ NAME is not available right now.
⇒ NAME can't take your call at this moment.
⇒ NAME can't come to the phone right now.
⇒ NAME is talking on the other line.

You may be asked to leave a message:
⇒ Would you like to leave a message?
⇒ Can I take a message?
⇒ Can I give HIM/HER a message?

More Complete Examples:
⇒ George Miller isn't available right now. Would you like to leave a message?
⇒ Betty can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?

If you are the caller, you can also ask to leave a message:
⇒ Can you give NAME a message for me?
⇒ Can I leave a message for NAME?
⇒ Could you ask NAME to call me back, please?

More Complete Examples:
⇒ Can I leave a message for Mr. Miller?
⇒ Can you ask Betty to call me back, please?

If you have any questions about today's Daily Vitamin, please don't hesitate to post your questions on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky). Or, I would encourage you to create a short dialogue to practice with these phrases and post them to Facebook or Bluesky. We will give you feedback about your writing as soon as we can.

Enjoy the rest of your day!