NAME:

ESL / EFL RESOURCES Telephone Language Review

A. Match the sentence halves together to form common telephone expressions.

1. Hello, can I speak .......

d a. who's calling?

2. Could you put me through to .......

j b. a message?

3. Wait a moment. I'll .......

h c. he is out at the moment.

4. May I ask .......

i d. to David Johnson, please?

5. I'm sorry, .......

c e. calling. Is Theresa there?

6. This is Michael Wilson .......

e f. I help you?

7. Could you tell her .......

a g. call back in an hour.

8. Can I take .......

b h. put you through.

9. No, that's alright. I'll just .......

g i. to call me back, please?

10. ABC Real Estate, how may .......

f j. the Finance department?

B. Which telephone expressions above are used by a 'caller' and which are used by a
'receiver'? Write the numbers on the lines.

1
Caller: .........................................................................................................................
26789

Receiver: .....................................................................................................................
3 4 510

C. Highlight the correct prepositions to complete the telephone phrasal verbs using
your PDF software's highlighting tool.

1. I'm afraid she's not at / on / in. Could you call back later?

2. I'm calling for / about / over our meeting tomorrow. I need to confirm some details.

3. If you call over / back / through in fifteen minutes, he should be available.

4. Could you please put me over / through / with to Mr. Green?

5. Thank you for / on / about your help.

6. Please hold at / over / on, I will transfer your call to his Assistant.

7. Just a second, I need to write this on / down / through.

8. Can you please repeat that? The line is breaking over / up / in. I couldn't hear you.

9. I'm afraid no one is picking in / on / up. They must have left for the day.

10. I'll send you a confirmation email as soon as I hang down / up / on the phone.

11. Could you put me through / into / across to the manager, please?

12. Sorry, we were cut by / up / off in the middle of our conversation.

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 TELEPHONING

ESL / EFL RESOURCES Telephone Language Review

D. Complete the telephone dialogues with the words from the box.

moment middle call putting help out

reach number again make extension around behalf
leave speaking back this give urgent go

Telephone dialogue 1

Receptionist: Good afternoon, Acme Corporation, how may I (1) .....................

help you?

John: Hi, can I have (2) .....................

extension the Marketing Department, please?

Receptionist: Certainly, may I ask who's calling?

John: (3) .....................

this is John Murdock. I'm calling on (4) .....................
behalf of Initech.

Receptionist: Please hold the line. I'm (5) .....................

putting you through.

Telephone dialogue 2

Linda: Marketing Department, Linda Benson (6) .....................

speaking

John: Hi Linda, John Murdock here. I'm trying to (7) .....................

reach Peter Jenkins. Have you

seen him (8) .....................

around ?
middle
Linda: I'm sorry John. Peter's in the (9) ..................... of a meeting at the moment. Would

you like to (10) .....................

leave a message?

John: Yes, please. Can you tell him to call me (11) .....................
back as soon as he gets

(12) .....................
out go
of the meeting? We need to (13) ..................... over a report.

Linda: No problem. Does he have your contact (14) .....................

number ?
give
John: He should, but let me (15) ..................... you my number just in case. It's 086380999.

Linda: Hold on a (16) .....................

moment , please. I need to get a pen. Could you say your

number (17) .....................

again ?

John: It's 086380999. He can also (18) .....................

call the office. I'll be there all afternoon.

Linda: I'll (19) .....................

make sure he gets your message.
urgent
John: I really appreciate your help. It's very (20) .....................

Linda: You're welcome. I'll give him the message as soon as I see him.

E. Now, role-play the telephone dialogues with a partner, taking it in turns to be the
caller and the receiver.

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