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There are 3 cases when Tom called Mary.

Case 1: Mary's phone was engaged or busy,

Case 2: Mary's phone rang but she didn't take the call

Case 3: Mary's phone rang and Mary did take the call but the reception was poor and they couldn't hear each other, so after 2 minutes they hung up the phone and have not talked to each other.

In which cases, can we say "Tom called, and he got through to Mary"?

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    "I couldn't hear her speaking" or "what she was saying". You only 'get through to' someone when you hear the right person answer the phone (an engaged tone or ringtone might be the wrong number!).
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 19 at 8:19
  • @KateBunting, what do you mean by saying "Right Person". Tom called but a stranger not Mary took the call, then Tom couldn't get through to Mary right?
    – Tom
    Apr 19 at 9:00
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    I meant the person you were intending to call. If the stranger then passes the phone to Mary you have 'got through to' her, but if she isn't available, you haven't.
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 19 at 12:37
  • I would have thought the answer is simple. Did you eventually manage to establish an intelligible conversation with Mary? If yes then you "got through", if no then you didn't.
    – Peter Jennings
    Apr 21 at 13:39

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In which cases, can we say "Tom called, and he got through to Mary"?

In case 3 and only in case 3.

You have gotten through to someone if you converse with them on the phone. A busy signal or a failure to answer wouldn't count. It's a gray area if they answer the phone but the reception is so bad that you can't talk at all. In this case, if you aren't able to speak with each other whatsoever, it could be misleading to say "I got though to her", which brings us to the next point -

Can we say "I called and I got through to her but I couldn't hear her saying"

This is exactly the right idea. You would describe it as:

  • "I called and I got through to her but (unfortunately) I couldn't hear her"

or

  • "I called and I got through to her but I couldn't hear her speaking"
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