Hi,Alan, Mister Micawber, Yankee
There is one situation. If I phone to someone,and he/she is not there. Could I please the secretary that ‘Could you pass on a message to him/her?’? Is this a polite way? Or people how to describle this situation? Thanks in advance!
Greetings!
Maggie :?:
One way to do it:
“Could (or “Would…”) you please tell her that…”
Another way to do it:
“Could you leave a message, please? Please tell her that…”
Or if you only want her to call you back:
“Could you please have her (or “ask her to…”) call me back? My number is…”
Hi, Prezbucky
I just cant figure out why you wrote “Could you leave a message”
In my book, if I call smbd, and he/she is absent and his/her colleague answers the phone, maybe I should say “Could I leave a message” ? (because It is I who want to leave a message)
Or you meant another thing?
thanks
I’m asking the person if he or she will leave/deliver a message for/to the person I want to contact.
In this case, it is implied that the message being delivered is from me.
“Would you please leave a message for her (from me)? Please tell her that…”
It could be done your way as well. Either way, the person to whom you’re speaking will (hopefully…) grab a pen or pencil and take the message… and put it in a place where the target will see it.
Hi LS and Maggie
Instead of Tom’s original sentence, I would recommend this version: “Could you leave her a message, please? Please tell her that…”
Or you can say these:
Could I leave a message? (as LS suggested)
Could you take a message?
Also, saying “Could you ask her to (do something)” sounds a little more polite than “Could you tell her to (do something)”:
“Could you ask her to call me back, please?”
Using ‘ask someone to do something’ means that you are making a polite request. Using ‘tell someone to do something’ sounds like a command (i.e. less polite).
Much of the form of delivery has to do with the familiarity between you and the message-taker.
I agree, Tom. The choice of words can depend on other things, too – such as whether it’s a boss-employee relationship, a company-customer relationship, the nature of the request itself, etc. The nice thing about so-called “standard phrases/sentences” is that they’re safe to use in a wide variety of situations.
Maggie, you used the word “please” in your sentence. I think the word you wanted to use was “ask”. Here is my suggested version of your original question:
Could I [color=blue]ask the secretary (this): ‘Could you [color=blue]give him/her a message?’
The phrasal verb “pass on” is not wrong, and you could also use “pass along”, but neither one of these is as typical as “give”.