Monday, March 13, 2017

american english - When talking to people on the phone for the first time, is it correct to use "This is" and "I am" together


A scretary told me to leave a voice message to her boss, because he was busy at the moment when I dialed his office number.
So, I left him a message like:



Good morning, Mr.XYZ. This is Kitty Lastname. Kitty Lastname is my real name. I am not a machine. I am from the ABC cake shop, which is located a few miles away from your company. I tried to keep in touch with you but your secretary told me that you were very busy. Sir, you had left your XXX under the chair you were sitting...



My teachers used to tell us never use "I am" on any phone call conversations, so I am very not sure whether I was wrong to say "this is" and then "I am" together in the above voice message.

Please help me.



Answer




Your teacher probably meant that native speakers do not usually answer the questions:


Who's this? or


With whom am I speaking?/Who am I speaking with?


on the phone by saying I am (name). Instead, a native speaker would usually say This is (name) when first identifying oneself.


And this is what Kitty does, in your example.


And, after first saying This is Kitty, it is absolutely correct to provide additional information about oneself by using I am... So your example is correct on this usage also.


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