Making arrangements

Suggesting a meeting

Do you have time to meet next week?

I was wondering if you might have time to meet next week.

It would give us a chance to talk about…

Suggesting times and places

When would suit you?

Where would you like to meet?

Would Monday be OK for you?

How about Wednesday morning?

Shall we say 10 o'c1ock in my office?

Reacting to suggestions

I just need to check my diary.

I think that should be possible.

Tuesday's bad for me. I'm afraid.

I'm tied up all day.

Yes, that would be good for me.

Confirming an arrangement

OK, so I'll see you Wednesday then.

So that's Monday at 10 a.m. at your office.

Changing arrangements

I'm calling about our meeting tomorrow.

I'm afraid something has come up.

One of my clients has cancelled/brought forward our appointment.

The meeting lasted longer than I expected.

I wanted to ask you if we could meet a bit earlier/postpone/put off our meeting.

I was wondering if we could reschedule our appointment.

Would it be possible to meet a bit later?

When you are late for an appointment

I'm afraid my meeting has taken longer than I expected.

I might be a few minutes late.

I should be there by 3 at the latest.

Complaints

Making a complaint

Are you the right person to talk to?

There appears to be a small problem with the documents.

There appears to be a mistake on the contract you’ve sent to us.

You seem to have forgotten the attachment.

Clarifying the problem

What is the problem exactly?

Could you explain the problem in more detail?

Apologizing

I'm very/extremely sorry about that.

Please accept my apologies.

That's entirely our fault.

There must have been a mix-up.

Taking action

It's good that you've brought this problem to my attention.

This is what I'll do.

I'll make sure it gets sorted out straight away.

Let me put you through to our legal department. They'll sort it out for you.

Reaching agreements

Making proposals

I wanted to make a suggestion.

I have an idea.

What do you think?

How does that sound?

Interrupting

Sorry, can I interrupt you there?

Yes, yes, but can I just say something?

Well yes, that may be true, but...

Can I just come in here?

Can I just stop you there?

Reacting to proposals

That sounds feasible/very reasonable.

We could probably work with that.

That depends. /That's difficult to say.

I don't think that would be possible.

I think we have a certain amount of room to maneuver, but I would have to check with my superior first.

Exercises

Exercise 1.

Put the words into the correct order to make phrases that are frequently used in telephone conversations.

1. Have/meeting/something/I/to/up/has/our/cancel/come/so/afraid/I’m.

2. The/losing/listen/connection/I’m.

3. If/have/wondering/meet/to/time/was/I/you/week/might/next.

4. Last/didn’t/sorry/I/part/the/catch/you/please/repeat/could?

5. I/sure/let/got/make/right/me/that/just/that.

6. But/I’ve/you/it/can/I/your/got/think/number/give/to/again/me/case/in/just?

7. Entirely/I’m/sure/not/I/can/you/to/back/on/get/that?

8. You/like/wait/to/would/I/ask/to/you/back/call/shall/or/him?

9. Call/yesterday/returning/from/your/I’m/just.

10. Please/up/a bit/you/speak/could?

Exercise 2.

Read a short extract paying special attention to the words in bold. Then fill in the gaps with these words in the sentences below.

If you want to call somebody in a company, you pick up the phone and hearing the dialing tone you start to dial the number on the keypad. If you don’t know the person’s direct line number, you may dial the number of the company’s switchboard. Then one of the following things may happen:

• The number rings but there is no answer.

• You hear the engaged tone because the person is already talking on the phone. In this case you’d better hang up and try again later.

• You get through but not to the number you wanted. The person on the other side of the line usually says that you have dialed the wrong number.

• The operator answers, you ask for the extension of the person you want to speak to.

• You are put through to the wrong extension. The person offers to transfer you to the right extension, but you are cut off – the call ends.

• The person you want to speak to is not at the desk and you leave a message on the voicemail. You ask him to call you back or to return your call.

1. Call me at the office tomorrow. My __________ line is 8495 784562134. If I’m not there, leave a ___________ on my ____________ and I’ll call you ________ when I get it.

2. All international lines are __________. Please ____________ up and try again later.

3. ‘Could I speak to Ms Wells, please?’ – “Oh, I’m sorry. She is not on this __________ ; she is on 345. I’ll put you through to the main _____________. Just ask the ___________ to transfer you to the Legal Department.

4. “Good morning. Theatre ticket hotline. How can I help you?” – “Oh, I think I have dialed the ______________.

5. Hello, could you check a number for me? I was talking to someone there but I was ___________ off. When I’m calling, I just get the __________ tone.

6. “Could you help me to make a phone call to Germany, please?” – “Certainly, sir. Just ________ up the phone and _________ 9 to get a line. When you hear the __________ tone, dial 00 33 and then the number you want in Germany’.

7. This is Credit Card helpline. To check your balance, please press 1 on your _________. To make a payment press 2.

8. I got your message yesterday but I was too busy to _________ your call. I’ll call ______ later, when you are at your desk.

Exercise 3.

The sentences in this conversation are in the wrong order. Number them in the correct order. The first one has been done for you.

___ I’ll sign them this afternoon and send them back to you.

___ Hello. My name is Mary Wells. I’d like to speak to Peter Sherman, please.

__1_ Good morning. Legal Services. How may I help you?

___ Hold the line, please. I’ll see if he is in.

___ Great. Thanks a lot.

___ (pause) Hello, Peter Sherman speaking.

___ Mary Wells and I would like to speak to Peter Sherman.

___ Hello, this is Mary.

___ Sorry, I didn’t quite catch this.

___ Hi, Mary. How are you doing?

___ Ok, busy as usual.

___ Fine, thanks. And you?

___ Yes, they came this morning, but I haven’t signed them yet.

___ I’m just calling to find out if you’ve received the copies of the contract.

___ Ok, there is no rush.

Exercise 4.

(A) Use phrases which are typical of telephone conversations to answer the following questions. Sometimes variants are possible.

1. How could you explain to your colleague why they couldn’t reach you on your mobile phone when they tried to?

2. How could you tell someone you’re speaking to on a mobile phone that the signal is very bad and you have difficulty understanding what they are saying?

3. How could you ask someone to speak louder because there’s a lot of background noise?

4. How could you ask someone to give you their mobile so that you could make a phone call because you haven’t charged up yours?

5. How could you ask someone to wait and not to put the phone down while you have to interrupt the call for some reason?

6. How could you ask somebody who has called you at the inconvenient time to call you later once again?

7. How could you ask someone to say the last phrase once again because you didn’t understand it?

8. What would you say to your colleague if you realized that you can’t meet them as it has been arranged?

9. What would you say to someone if you wanted to arrange a meeting with them?

10. What would you say to someone who has just called to your office and wants to speak to your colleague who isn’t at his/her desk?

(B). Work in pairs. Make a list of questions as in 4 (A) to practise vocabulary used in telephone communication. Use useful phrases and vocabulary bank. Ask your partner these questions. Answer your partner’s questions.