Can I Leave a

Message?
 Operator Caller

￮ Greet the caller. ￮ Tell your name and

￮ Ask the caller to ask for the person
wait. you want to talk to.
Tell the caller that Ask the operator to

Hello!
￮ ￮

the person can’t take your message.

be reached. Give ￮ Say your message.
the reason. ￮ End the call.
￮ Ask the caller what
the message is.
￮ Say that you will
deliver the
message ASAP. 2
 On the phone, at the office of Morita Incoorporated
Good morning. Morita
Incoorporated. How can I Good morning. Can I talk
help you? to Mr. Morita?

Let me check if he's in his

office. Hold on, please.. I'm Oh. Can I leave a
afraid he's not available now message?

My name's Aristotle
Certainly, Sir. Shue. Please tell him that
I can't meet him until
Thursday, 9 o'clock.
Excuse me. Would you
repeat your name, Sir?
It's Aristotle Shue.
S-H-U-E
Okay. Mr. Shue. Let me
repeat that. You will be That's right.
able to meet Mr. Morita
on Thursday at 9. Thank you. 3
Connecting to a call Giving reasons for absence

￮ One moment, ￮ I’m sorry. She’s out

please. of town.
￮ Just a second. ￮ Mr. Brown has just
￮ I’ll put you through gone out.
to him.
￮ I’m afraid she’s not
￮ Hold on the line,
available now.
please.
￮ Hang on, please. ￮ He’s busy at the
moment.
 Offering to take a message Can I leave a message?

￮ Any messages for ￮ Could I leave a

him? message?
￮ Would you like to ￮ Could you take a
leave a message? message?
￮ Would you care to
￮ Could you please
leave a message?
give her a message?
 Leaving a message Asking for repetition

￮ Please tell him that Excuse me, would you

the meeting is repeat your name, Sir?
cancelled until
Tuesday 9 o’clock.
 Pay attention to the words in underline.
Caller Receiver

￮ Can I leave a message? ￮ Can I take your

￮ Can you take a message?
message?
￮ (Are there) any
￮ Please tell him to call
messages for him/her?
me before noon.
￮ Tell him that I can’t join ￮ I’ll let him/her know.
the meeting. ￮ I’ll ask him/her to call
￮ Will you tell him to fax you back.
copies of the report by ￮ I’ll give him the message
Monday? as soon as possible 7
 Work in pairs. Make short dialogs,
follow the direction.

Situation 1 Situation 2
Your client calls. You are Professor
Ask the reason for Martin’s assistant.
rescheduling the He is not available
appointment. when one of his
Agree on a new
students calls.
meeting date.

8
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