Phone English

Phone English

1. Answering a phone call

a) From your home
Hello?
This is Jimmy Wong's residence.
Who is this, please?
May I ask who is calling?
One moment, please.
Hold on, please.
Jimmy, it's for you.
Jimmy, here is a phone call for you.
No. I am not interested. (To callers of telemarketing)
Wrong number.
Who are you trying to reach?
Who are you calling?
Which number are you calling?
The number is correct, but there's no such a person here.

b) From an office where you work
Good morning. Dr Sam White's Office. May I help you?
Good afternoon. Ace Pluming. May I help you?
May I ask who is calling?
Who is calling, please?
Who am I speaking to?
Could you spell your last name for me?
May I ask what this is regarding?
May I have your date of birth, please?
I am afraid Mr. Thompson is not in today.
I am afraid she is out to lunch.
I am afraid he is out of town this week.
She is at a meeting now.
He is on the phone now.
She just stepped out.
He is on vacation now.
She called sick today.
Would you like to leave a message?
I will pass him the message.
I will tell him that you called.
I will ask her to call you back as soon as she gets back.
Or would you prefer to hold?
One moment, please.
Just a minute, please.
Hold on, please.
I will be right back with you.
Thank you for holding, Mr. Chan.
Thank you for waiting, Miss Li.
Cindy Chen speaking. may I help you?
This is Cindy Chen speaking. How may I help you, Sir?
Yes, speaking. (when someone wants to speak to you and you pick up the phone)

2. Making a Phone Call

a) Calling someone's home
Hello. May I speak to David, Please.
Is David in?
Is this David's home?
Is this David?
David? It's me, George. How are you doing?
Is that you, David?
Hey, what's up, David?
This is George, David's classmate.
This is George from David's workplace.
David and I work in the same company.
Hi. David. This is Janet from your English class. Do you remember me?

b) Calling an office
May I speak to David Wong, please?
This is Steve Liang from Citibank calling Mr. Wei Ming Tang regarding the cancellation of our meeting next Monday.
Please put me through to Ms Susan Kwang in Customer Service. This is Thomas Ho calling from Chase Manhattan Bank.
May I please speak to Ms Janet White? This is Jack Lee from the KinKo's returning her call.
May I ask when she will be back?
Hi, David. This is Sandy Yuan from New York Life Insurance. How are you doing today?
I am calling to report a fire/an accident..
I am calling to make an appointment with Dr Smith some time tomorrow.
I am calling to cancel my 12:30 appointment with Dr Lee today.
I am calling to reschedule my appointment with Dr Chang.
I am calling you to get some information about the City Government's Housing Project.
I am calling to find out about the processing status of my green card application.
I am calling to request a correction of a misspelled name on my green card.
I am calling you to file a complaint again one of your employees.
May I leave a message?
Tell him to call me back ASAP (as soon as possible). My office number is ...