30. On the telephone CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION

CHECK YOUR ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION

30. On the telephone

Exercise 1: Complete these dialogues with words and expressions from the box. automated services call back camping on the line connect convenient cut off dead direct line engaged extension get back hang on hash hold the line hung up junk calls message on behalf of on hold put through speaking star switch board tone voicemail zeroing out 1 Caller: Could I speak to Jennifer Thompson in Accounts, please? Receptionist: 'm afraid her line is ________ at the moment. Shall I get her to ________ you ________ (you need one expression for these two gaps)? 2 Caller: Oh, hello, could you ________ me ________ (you need one expression for these two gaps) to Ron Atkinson, please? Receptionist: Certainly. ________ please. 3 Caller: Hello. Adam Harrison, please. Receptionist: He's out of the office, I'm afraid, but I can ________ you and you can leave a ________ on his ________, if you like. Caller: No, that's OK. I'll try again later. When would be a ________ time? 4 Speaker 1: Oh no, not again! Speaker 2: What's up? Speaker 1: I'm trying to call my credit card company, and I've got one of those stupid ________. Speaker 2: Well, try ________. You might get through to a real human being. Speaker 1: OK. Oh, the line's gone ________. I've been ________. 5 Answering machine Hello. This is Anthony Roberts. I'm not in the office at the moment, but if you leave your name and number after the ________, I'll ________ to you. 6 Speaker 1: Bob's been on the phone for ages. Speaker 2: I know. He's calling our supplier, but they've put him ________. He's been ________ for over ten minutes! 7 Speaker 1: (Answering the phone) Hello? Recorded message: Hello there. I'm Sandy from Moneygrubbers International, and I’m delighted to tell you that you have been personally selected from a list of literally millions to receive a fantastic travel offer… Speaker 2: Who is it? Speaker 1: (putting down the phone): Oh, just one of those irritating ________. 8 Mr Floyd: (Answering the phone) Hello? Telemarketer: Oh, hello. Could I speak to Mr Floyd, please? Mr Floyd: ________. Telemarketer: Good evening, Mr Floyd. I'm Tim Spanner, and I'm calling ________ Superglaze Windows. I was wondering if… Mr Floyd: (Says nothing, but puts the phone down) Telemarketer: Oh dear. That's the fifth one who's ________ on me today. 9 Caller: Hello. Could I have Sarah Knowles' ________ please? Receptionist: Well, actually, she has a ________, which means you can by-pass the ________ the next time you call. If you ________ a moment, I'll get you her number 10 Speaker 1: How do I access my messages on this phone? Speaker 2: Press zero, then the ________ key. That's the little asterisk at the bottom of the keypad. Then press zero again, followed by the ________ key. Speaker 1: Which one's that? Speaker 2: The key with the four vertical and horizontal lines crossing one another Exercise 2. The popularity of SMS mobile phone text messaging has led to an increase in the use of certain abbreviations to communicate ideas (for example, 'FYI' means 'For your information'). Many of these are used by business people, not only in SMS messages, but also in emails and handwritten notes and messages. Look at these messages, and try to decide what the abbreviations in bold mean. Choose the words you need from the box. You will need to use some words more than once. 1 We didn't make a profit last month. AAMOF, we lost almost £8000. I need a reply from you urgently. Please call me ASAP. Must go to a meeting now. BRB. Thanks for sending the contract. BTW, have you received our latest catalogue? I still haven't received your reply. FCOL, what are you playing at? 2 3 4 5 6 I'm sorry the boss was so rude to you. FWIW, I think you've done a fantastic job. Thanks for lending me your mobile, but I'm afraid I've dropped it down the loo. HHOK! I'll bring it right back. Here's the information you asked for (see attachment). HTH. How should I know if our latest advertising campaign has broken the law. IANAL! You asked me what we should do about the fall in sales. IMO, we should meet and discuss this problem face to face. 7 8 9 10 11 The papers we needed have finally arrived. IOW, we can get on with putting the project together at last. 12 One bit of advice for the report you're writing: KISS! Have you seen his report? It's almost 200 pages long. Oh my god, MEGO! This is my project, not yours! Hands off, and MYOB! You could be wrong. OTOH, you're probably right. WRT your request for a day off next week, I'm afraid my answer is no. 13 14 15 16

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