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I know you are supposed to introduce yourself on the phone by saying something like "this is so and so", but how do you introduce yourself when you are calling with someone? Do you say

"This is A and B"?

But then I don't think that is grammatically correct. Should it be something like "we are A and B"?

Also, would this be a proper way to introduce yourselves?

"This is A, who had her appointment on Monday." (Although you are talking about yourself?)

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  • "how do you introduce yourself when you are calling with someone?". You don't need the word "with", in that. It is superfluous.
    – Tristan
    Commented May 20, 2013 at 13:06
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    Good point. If you say, "I made a phone call with Sally", that would normally be understood to mean that you and Sally called someone else. If you called Sally, you say, "I made a phone call to Sally" or simply "I called Sally".
    – Jay
    Commented May 20, 2013 at 14:23
  • @Tristan Jess is saying that she and one other person both are at the phone, calling a third person. Person A & B called person C. So person A is making a call with person B. The with is not superfluous, it's necessary (though I can understand where you might have thought she meant she was making a call to someone, not with someone).
    – WendiKidd
    Commented May 20, 2013 at 20:45
  • Wendi, are you sure? The way that the question is written, makes it unclear. It could be improved with a different wording.
    – Tristan
    Commented May 20, 2013 at 21:22

2 Answers 2

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It's common to say, "Hi, this is Bob and Sally."

There is nothing grammatically wrong with saying, "We are Bob and Sally," but Americans do not normally identify themselves that way on the phone. When it's just one person, you don't say, "Hi, I am Bob", you say, "Hi, this is Bob".

Note that if you are introducing yourself in person, you do say "I". That is, if you call someone on the phone, you will say, "Hi, this is Fred Smith," or "Hello, this is Bob and Sally." But if you go to his office to meet him, you say, "Hi, I am Fred Smith," or "Hi, we are Bob and Sally." There is no grammatical reason for the difference: it's just convention.

I suppose one might say that it should be "these are" because it's plural, but "this is" is commonly used in English to identify a collection of things that are functioning as a unit. "This is your desk and chair", "This is our plan and goal", etc. But if it's more than one of the same thing, you do say "these". Like if you were introducing a new employee, you might say "These are your co-workers." But if you name them individually, you typically say "This is Fred and Mary."

If you are giving additional information to identify yourself on the phone, you typically shift to saying "I". For example, "Hello, this is Fred Smith. I have an appointment on Monday."

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    Great answer! Another way of introducing yourself in person (or on a video call) would be "Hi, I'm Bob and this is Sally." +1!
    – WendiKidd
    Commented May 20, 2013 at 20:46
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Another common alternative that avoids the pluralization problem is for the speaker to introduce himself and then announce the co-callers:

Hi, this is Fred, and I have Wilhelmina, Torbjorn and Fernando with me.

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