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Say, I am applying for a job and the recruiter might call me at anytime and so I have to carry my phone with me all the time and to "ready to receive" the call from the recruiter.

I say "I have to listen for the call"

"Listen" relates to ears and now there are some similar actions but I don't use my ears but my eyes.

Say, it is a rainy season and my clothes are hanging out outside. It might rain at anytime and so I have to look out of the window to check if it is raining and to "ready to bring" the washing in.

Can I say "I have to watch for the rain"?

Is "to watch for something" the counterpart of "to listen for something"?

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  • Actually "I have to listen for the call" isn't very English. We are more likely to say "I'm waiting for a phone call".
    – Steve Ives
    Commented May 6, 2022 at 14:22

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Yes, you can watch for something that you are awaiting or expecting, or which you would need to cope with, but we would be more likely to say 'I have to watch for rain' (or very often 'watch out for rain') with no definite article ('the') before 'rain', unless (maybe) rain was explicitly forecast for that part of the day. You can use another sense (feeling) and say that you are feeling for something - a doctor might use his or her fingers to feel for lumps or broken bones in a patient's body.

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Actually "I have to listen for the call" isn't very English. We are more likely to say "I'm waiting for a phone call".

With regard to checking for rain because you have washing out, a native English speaker would say (if asked why they keep looking out of the window) "I'm keeping an eye on the weather/checking for rain because I have washing out"

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  • Where I live it would be very common for someone to say 'I have to listen for the call (or 'a call') meaning I want to be able to hear the phone when it rings. This is probably more used about fixed landline phones that you can't put in your pocket.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 6, 2022 at 15:12
  • That must be a very localised, regional thing - I've never heard it used.
    – Steve Ives
    Commented May 7, 2022 at 9:32
  • Listen [out] for a knock on the door, one might say implying (e.g.) don't put your headphones on/listen to heavy metal at volume level 11/etc. I am UK based.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 7, 2022 at 11:43
  • @MichaelHarvey Yep, but English doesn’t work that way. Just because you listen for the door bell doesn’t mean you listen for a phone call. You get on a train but you get in a dinghy. As I said, you might use “listen for a phone call” where you live but I’ve never heard it in any part of the UK nor can find any reference to it in any written text.
    – Steve Ives
    Commented May 8, 2022 at 12:44
  • Maybe mainly American but I use it in the UK and so do people I know. I was playing with the sound off, you see, to listen for a phone call.; The SETI Institute are the ones listening for a phone call from ET; American scientists are pointing huge radio telescopes at the stars listening for a phone call from far-off civilizations; listening for a phone call while in the shower; go to sleep listening for a phone call to dash back (last one from UK Sunday Times)
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 8, 2022 at 12:57

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