PHONE THOUGHTS – Can’t get by without Phrasal Verbs
Phone Thoughts
Hook up/ Hooked up:
to be connected to a machine, an electronic device or the internet.
We still say that the phone was ringing off the hook. When was the last time you used a phone with a hook?
I remember when I was a kid we used to have a phone on the wall and that it had a hook that the receiver hung on. If you picked up the receiver, the hook would move up and would engage the dial tone. If you put the phone on the hook, it would move down and would disengage the phone.
Let’s not be in a rush to change the terminology, though. I still like it. We still say we dial the phone, right? When was the last time you used a phone with a dial?
What other old phone terms do we still use?
– Phones ring but no longer contain actual bells like in the old days.
– We hang up the phone even though we normally don’t really hang it anywhere. We normally put it down somewhere, not up.
All telephones have a microphone to speak into, an earphone which reproduces the voice of the other person, a ringer or a buzz which makes an alert sound to when a call is coming in, and a keypad or in older phones a telephone dial to enter the telephone number of the telephone being called.
Old telephones have become very peculiar and fascinating. Many people have found these to be interesting to collect as antiques, being telephones invented in 1876.
In order to improve your telephone skills, you should learn some phrasal verbs
that are commonly used in telephone conversations.
Hold on and hang on means ‘wait’ . But don’t confuse hang on with hang up!
Hang up means ‘put the phone down’ (the conversation is finished).
Another phrasal verb with the same meaning as hang up is ring off.
The opposite of hang up / ring off is ring up – to ring somebody up, means you are making a phone call. And if you pick up the phone, (or pick the phone up) you answer a call when the phone rings.
“Hang on a second…”
If you are talking to a receptionist, secretary or switchboard operator, they may ask you to hang on while they put you through
Put through means to connect your call to another telephone. With this verb, the object (you, me, him, her etc.) goes in the middle of the verb: put you through.
But if you can’t get through to the person you want to talk to, you might be able to leave a message asking them to call you back.
Call back means to return a phone call – and if you use an object (you, me, him, her etc.), it goes in the middle of the verb: call you back.
Mobile or cell phones, give you the possibility “to text somebody”
To text back somebody (or text somebody back) is to send a text message in reply to someone who has sent you a text message.
Example: I sent Peter a message about the trip, but he hasn’t texted back yet.
Using a telephone (verbs, nouns and phrasal verbs)
answer – verb : pick up the phone when it rings
if someone’s telephone is busy, it is being used when you try to call
call – verb : to telephone someone
call back : to telephone someone who telephoned you earlier
to telephone the place where you work and say where you are or what you are doing
to telephone the place where you work and say you will not come to work because you are ill
call up or ring up : to telephone someone
caller – noun : someone who makes a telephone call
cut off : if someone or something cuts you off when you are talking on the telephone
dial – verb : to press the buttons, or to turn the dial, on a telephone in order to call someone
disconnect – verb : to stop the telephone connection between two people or computers
get through : to be connected to a place by telephone
hang up or ring off : to stop using a telephone at the end of a conversation
to wait in order to speak to someone on the telephone. You can also say that you hold the line or to be on hold
if a telephone system jams or is jammed, it stops working because too many people are making calls at the same time
a jammed telephone system does not work because too many people are making calls at the same time
– Consult a reference work (dictionary, phonebook, etc.) for a specific piece of information.
misdial – verb : to dial a wrong number when making a telephone call
phone – verb : to use a telephone to call someone
to phone someone who phoned you earlier when you were away or were too busy to speak to them
phone in or ring in : to telephone the place where you work in order to give a message
phone round or ring around : to phone several people to arrange something or to get information
phone through : to give someone a particular piece of information using the phone
put down : to put the telephone receiver back onto its base after you have finished talking to someone
put the phone down on someone : to end a telephone conversation with someone before they have finished speaking
put on : to pass the telephone to someone so they can speak to the person you have been talking to
to connect someone to the person they want to speak to on the telephone
a number of people who have telephoned a place at the same time and are waiting to speak to an operator
to press one or more buttons on a phone for a second time when you are trying to phone someone
ring –verb : to call someone by telephone
give someone a bell
ring – verb : the sound a telephone makes to show that someone is calling
ring through : to phone from one part of a building to another
speak – verb : to speak to someone on the telephone
telephone – verb : to speak to someone using the telephone
someone who works for a business or organization answering the telephone and directing calls to the right people
telephony – noun : the system, technology, or business of telephone communication
transfer – verb : to let someone speak to another person by changing telephone lines for them
call someone collect : to make a phone call that is paid for by the person who receives the call.
off the hook : if a telephone is off the hook, the receiver (=the part you speak into) has not been put into its place, and so you cannot receive any calls
call waiting – noun
When speaking with someone on the phone, a signal alerts you that you have another call waiting, allowing you to switch between the two.
Three-way calling – noun Talking with people at two different phone numbers at the same time, as a conference call.
A phone conversation
“Hi, John. I’ve been trying to look up Jenny’s number, but I can’t find it. She’s wanted to hook up with me, and I want to ask her out. Do you have her number?”
“Watch out for Jenny. I went out with her for a while. She seemed cool, would dress up nice and drop by once in a while, we’d go out, maybe go over to a friend’s house or eat out. Then for no reason one day she just blew up at me. I told her to calm down and just like that she broke up with me. She ran out the door and I tried to catch up with her but she was too fast for me. Look out for her, she can wig out with no heads up.”
“Maybe you guys just grew apart; it happens, you know. Maybe if you had hung in there with her, you could have figured out why she was mad at you and made it up to her. You could have worked it out.”
“Yeah, well, she was hard to hold onto. I felt like I always had to look after her because she could mess up her life with her weird moves. I told her if she kept it up she was going to get into trouble. I thought she looked up to me, especially when I pointed out how much I cared about her, but she would just make up excuses and set herself up for more trouble. I was afraid I was going to start taking after her because I really cared a lot about her.
“For instance, this one time we were walking and we ran into someone she knew. As soon as the person saw Jenny, it was like a switch went on. She started running away! I asked her what that was all about, and she told me to stick to my own business. When I think back at how she would go off on people for no reason, I should have not let her sleep over any more or get myself mixed up in her messes.”
“I hear you, bro. Thanks for the heads up. I think I’ll give up on the idea!”
EXERCISE
Match the phrasal words with their meanings
(some phrasal verbs have even other meanings)
- Hook up ____eat at a restaurant
- Ask out ____be careful
- Watch out ____preserve, not give up
- Go out with ____respect
- Go over to ____go on a journey/ go to someone’s house
- Eat out ____meet someone
- Blow up ____invent a story
- Break up ____restrict or limit / stay on a task
- Give up on ____continue, not quit
- Calm down ____to reach
- Catch up with ____look like, resemble
- Look out ____invite someone for a date
- Look up to ____have a relationship with
- Wig out ____continue
- Hang in there ____be careful (imperative)
- Hold onto ____spend the night at someone else’s house
- Grow apart ____meet by accident
- Go off ____dress very smartly
- Figure out ____pay a brief visit
- Make it up to ____make someone aware of something
- Make up ____explode /become livid
- Mix up ____stop feeling hope/surrender, stop trying
- Set up ____keep as long as possible
- Go on ____become excited and lose control
- Take after ____stop being angry or emotionally excited
- Keep up at ____finish a relationship
- Point out ____try to compensate for doing something wrong
- Run into ____become distant, stop having a close relationshi
- Run away ____prepare / get ready
- Stick to ____confuse
- Sleep over ____escape
- Drop by ____find the answer to a problem
- Dress up ____start to dislike / get mad
