return my call

[Jiayun]

Hi all,

I called a person but he did not answer. When leaving a voice message to him, can I say "I have urgent things to find you. Could you return my call at 1234567 as soon as possible?". or should I say "Could you call back me at 1234567 as soon as possible?"

Thanks!

JY

 

[bhaisahab]

Hi all,

I called a person but he did not answer. When leaving a voice message to him, can I say "I have urgent things to find you. Could you return my call at 1234567 as soon as possible?". or should I say "Could you call me back at 1234567 as soon as possible?"

Thanks!

JY

"I have urgent things to find you" doesn't make sense. "Could you call back me at/on 1234567 as soon as possible?" This is fine.

 

[Jiayun]

So I cannot say "could you return my call at 1234567?"?

Would it make sense if I say "I have urgent things to find you to deal with"?

"I have urgent things to find you" doesn't make sense. "Could you call back me at/on 1234567 as soon as possible?" This is fine.

 

[emsr2d2]

No. "Find" doesn't make any sense by phone. "I need to contact you to discuss some urgent matters/something urgent." "I need you to deal with something urgently."

 

[Barb_D]

Or I have an urgent matter to discuss with you.

 

[Jiayun]

So I cannot say "could you return my call at 1234567?"?

 

[tzfujimino]

"Could you call back me at/on 1234567 as soon as possible?" This is fine.

It should be "call me back", I suppose?

 

[Barb_D]

Call me back or return my call are both fine. I don't know why you thought it wasn't.

 

[Jiayun]

It is because the people here only responded to the part of my question regarding "call me back". No one gives me an affirmative response in respect of "return my call". :roll:

Call me back or return my call are both fine. I don't know why you thought it wasn't.

 

[5jj]

It is because the people here only responded to the part of my question regarding "call me back". No one gives me an affirmative response in respect of "return my call". :roll:

That's the problem when there is more than one thing to deal with in a thread. Some of us like to deal with one thing at a time in order to avoid long threads that can become confusing.

 

[Barb_D]

We also don't tend to comment on things that are okay.

 

[bhaisahab]

It should be "call me back", I suppose?

Yes, it should.

 

[Jiayun]

But Barb said both are fine? I am a bit confused ......

Yes, it should.

 

[bhaisahab]

But Barb said both are fine? I am a bit confused ......

This is what Barb said:

Call me back or return my call are both fine. I don't know why you thought it wasn't.

tzfujimino was pointing out to me that I failed to correct the word order when I answered your question.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please call me back on 1234567.
Please get back to me on 1234567.
Please return my call [asap]. I can be contacted on 1234567.

The only construction I don't like is "return my call on XXX" and I really can't explain why. It's something to do with the preposition but I can't give a convincing argument as to why it's unnatural.