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I have a question about missing someone's call throughout the day. Since you have missed multiple calls, is it OK to say

"I'm sorry I have missed your calls. I'm giving you a call back."

Or should I still go with

I'm sorry I missed you/your call. (And stress that multiple calls were missed like this:) I must have been away each time you called."

jess
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3 Answers3

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"I'm sorry I missed your calls. I'll phone (you) back as soon as I can."

or

"Sorry I missed your calls. I'll call you after lunch / when I get back from work/ later tonight."

Use the so-called simple future tense when you make promises.

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplefuture.html

Mari-Lou A
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  • What if I'm saying this as I'm giving them a call back (I'm not trying to make promises). – jess Jun 21 '13 at 18:39
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    What if I'm saying this as* I'm giving them a call back*

    @jess I don't understand your question. Why would you say to someone you are calling them if you are already on the phone to them? (The word, "as" means: "while" and similar to: "at the same time")

     – Mari-Lou A Jun 21 '13 at 18:48
  • But don't people usually say "I'm returning your call" or "I'm giving you a call back" when they call someone back after missing his/her call? They don't always make a promise before calling someone back. – jess Jun 21 '13 at 18:50
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    It's not something I would say to a person while I'm on the phone. It is self evident that I am calling them. However, it could be that in the States (or even in the UK) it's a way of introducing yourself and apologizing for not answering their calls earlier. It's plausible, but not something I would normally say. – Mari-Lou A Jun 21 '13 at 18:57
  • Ah, okay! Then how should I return calls? Should I just say rhis is so and so and that I'm sorry that I missed their calls? – jess Jun 21 '13 at 19:28
  • I think that's fine! Simple and to the point. But let's see what the others think. :) – Mari-Lou A Jun 21 '13 at 19:30
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    Converted most of my comment to an answer, however this is still relevant: "I'll phone you back" is very much a British phrase. It's perfectly correct, but sounds very odd to the US ear as we don't use "phone" that way. So feel free to use it with BrE speakers, but it's not natural to AmE speakers. – WendiKidd Jun 21 '13 at 21:57
  • As for the "I'm calling you back", this is actually a phrase I use regularly on chat - when I see I have missed calls, announcing that I am calling back, almost as we speak. It gives the other party the chance to object to the timing of the call, if applicable. – oerkelens Jun 02 '14 at 17:56
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"I'm giving you a call back" (more informal) or "I'm returning your call" are quite common in the US. As has been mentioned in comments it is of course obvious that you're calling them, but you're acknowledging that you missed a call and are calling back for that reason (as opposed to making the call for another reason altogether).

Also: "Sorry I missed your call(s)" already conveys that you are calling because you missed a call, so you wouldn't say both "Sorry I missed your call(s)" and "I'm giving you a call back" or "I'm returning your call"—you would choose one and use that alone.

WendiKidd
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In the first case, when you use I have missed, it sounds more like that you purposefully missed those calls and could've picked them up instead.

I'd simply use the following:

I'm sorry! I missed your calls (yesterday/today/morning).

It also depends on the media you are using to convey this message. Stating the time is optional unless the other person should be made aware of the circumstances you were in when you didn't pick the calls.

hjpotter92
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