3

You can still contact me through your phone though.

or

You can still contact me via your phone though.

The question is simple. But I am having problems with the answer, so which one is "correct"?

4
  • 4
    Most of us would just say "You can still contact me by phone". It's unlikely there'd be any special reason to point out that it's "your" phone (the person you're speaking to). In fact, the speaker would usually be thinking in terms of his own phone being the crucial part of the link-up. Sep 14, 2013 at 17:17
  • 1
    I think "via" is fine to use as well. I would naturally say or write, "You can still contact me via phone." I would not say "via your phone", though - by saying "via phone" it denotes that you and I are both speaking on the phone and there is thus no need to say "via your phone" or "via my phone".
    – adriandz
    Sep 17, 2013 at 1:49
  • 1
    Contact me on the phone / over the phone. Also on the ICQ / on the Internet. As BBC says. Sep 17, 2013 at 22:17
  • with your phone
    – user20792
    Nov 6, 2015 at 1:24

4 Answers 4

3

I would use one of these:

You can still call me.

You can still call me at (phone number).

You can still reach me by phone at (phone number).

2

As @FumbleFingers mentioned, you should probably say,

You can still contact me by phone. Or

You can still phone me up. Or

You can still phone me. Or

You can still phone me at 000.444.444.444.444.444.444:)

6
  • 3
    This isn't the most standard American English, aside from the first one. On the others, 'phone' would be replaced by 'call'.
    – Belladonna
    Sep 16, 2013 at 19:14
  • @littlebigbot: I didn't say it was standard AmE. It's standard English. I don't really see much difference between AmE and English anyway.
    – Noah
    Sep 17, 2013 at 4:06
  • @Noah AmE is English. Did you mean to say "between AmE and BrE"? At any rate, answers specific to regional dialects are fine, but it's helpful to mark them as such.
    – user230
    Sep 17, 2013 at 8:37
  • @snailboat: I beg to differ. To me there's English, AmE, and so on:)
    – Noah
    Sep 17, 2013 at 9:23
  • 1
    @Noah You can, of course, use your personal definitions of words whenever you'd like. However, it's usually more useful to use definitions shared by other people so you can successfully communicate.
    – user230
    Sep 17, 2013 at 9:26
2

First, the usual AmE way of saying your sentences would be this:

You can still contact me by phone, though.

By phone is the common phrase used when you are expressing a method of contacting you (again, in AmE, BrE could be different) - and where that method would be a standard voice phone call.


Now this:

You can still contact me through your phone though.

implies that

  • the method might something more complicated or different than a phone call, but that the phone is still used in the method.
    • If your phone had a walkie-talkie feature like the old Nextel cell phones did, I can see this being said (e.g. "Contact me through your walkie-talkie" is something that would certainly be said.)
    • If you have some app on the phone that would be used (like Facebook, Kik, etc.), then I can see this being said as well - because you're not using the actual phone part of the phone device in and of itself but a feature of the phone device.
  • You are not being specific about the precise method used on the phone to contact you - i.e. you don't care if he/she calls you, texts you, emails you, Skypes you or anything else the phone can do.
  • the person who you are talking to is not expecting to be able to use a phone for some reason, or doesn't realize a phone is available to him (maybe they have a bullhorn or other communication tool instead).

rather than you saying that you can be contacted by being called.

Via implies travel and a path, or something like a carrier/delivery service. Through can substitute for via but not really the other way around.

I received my packages via UPS.

I received my packages through UPS.

Through much study I was able to pass the class.

Via much study I was able to pass the class (bad, this makes "much study" sound like a place or delivery service).

You might think of your phone as a "message delivery service" but that would be a concept more appropriate for your wireless carrier or possibly a messaging app/service on the phone - "The text message was delivered via Verizon's systems" or "She sent me the video via Skype."

0

In conversation, I always say "Call me on your phone." On, here, meaning "using" or "while operating".

Through and via are a little odd to use for phone calls.

To me, "through" invokes the idea that you are using a service to call someone by proxy, like having a secretary.

And "via" invokes the idea of physically transporting somewhere using the phone as a highway.

If you absolutely must use one of those two, "via" is more correct, but it is still very odd.

I'd recommend "with your phone", "on your/the phone", or "by phone".

I use "on". Like being on the computer, one would be on the phone.

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