If you’ve been learning the English language (especially as a second language) you’ve probably discovered that there are a few sometimes confusing grammar rules that dictate how phrases should be used in certain contexts.
For example, let’s say that you want someone to call you on the telephone.
On the surface, it might seem completely normal to ask someone to “call to me around 9 PM so we can talk about our plans for the weekend”.
In reality, though, while that phrase might get your point across – and most English-speaking folks would know exactly what you were talking about, even if they raised their eyebrows – it would be a lot more common to say something like “call me around 9 PM so we can talk about our plans for the weekend”.
Call Me or Call to Me? Which is Correct?
Truth be told, there’s really no right or wrong way to use this phrase – call me or call to me – if you’re using it in the right context.
If you’re asking someone to ring you on the telephone, you’d want to say “call me”.
It’s casual. It’s simple and to the point. And it conveys exactly what you want the person to do. It lets them know the exact action you want them to take without any confusion.
At the same, you could (probably) get away with saying something like “place a call to me” and still get your point across.
This would sound a lot more formal, a lot more stilted, and (if we are being completely honest here) would convey that the person saying this is probably an English as a second language speaker.
As a general rule of thumb, you’d want to go with “call me” over “call to me” – especially if “call to me” wasn’t used in a phrase like “place a call to me”.
How Should Call to Me Be Used, Then?
In most circumstances, “call to me” would either have to be preempted by another phrase – “place a call to me”, “give that call to me”, or even “shoot a call to me” – or it just wouldn’t fit right in normal conversation.
As we highlighted a moment ago, unless you’re using it in this kind of context you want to keep your communications short and sweet.
Go with “call me” more often than not and you’ll have no trouble at all!
Read more about “write me” or “write to me”.
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