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How to say if someone was not available at a certain time?



 
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How to say if someone was not available at a certain time? #1 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 20:28 pm   How to say if someone was not available at a certain time?
 

Assume I speak with a person and want to tell him that I tried to
call him yesterday without success. What would be the best (or
the opposite what would be wrong):

"yesterday I tried to call you by phone but...
....I didn't catch you"
....I didn't get you"
....I didn't reach you"

?

Peter
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How to say if someone was not available at a certain time? #2 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 22:03 pm   How to say if someone was not available at a certain time?
 

Those are fine, IMO. On the last one, you might say "...I couldn't reach you" (instead of using "didn't"), but that's really a fairly minor point.

You might also say something like "...you weren't there" or "...you didn't answer" -- though both of those might make it seem as if you're trying to make the person feel guilty.
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How to say if someone was not available at a certain time? #3 (permalink) Tue Jun 24, 2008 22:08 pm   How to say if someone was not available at a certain time?
 

Quote:
Those are fine, IMO. On the last one, you might say "...I couldn't reach you" (instead of using "didn't"), but that's really a fairly minor point.

"I didn't" sounds odd to me. Isn't it obvious to the listener that the caller didn't reach him? "I couldn't reach you" has a feeling of "Can you tell me why? or "it was impossible to reach you".
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difference between "elderly" and "old" | Expression: "The blow fainted him."
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