"In a call" versus "on a call" - English Stack Exchange

@Pierre, referring to phone (possibly, conference) calls. Edited it in. – ak86. Mar 17, 2011 at 9:37. Add a comment ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Inacall"versus"onacall" AskQuestion Asked 11years,4monthsago Modified 2years,2monthsago Viewed 240ktimes 19 2 Iseither"inacall"or"onacall"incorrectusagewhenreferringtosomeoneattendingaphone(possiblyconference)call?Ifnot,what'sappropriateusageforboth? prepositions Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedMar17,2011at9:34 ak86 askedMar16,2011at9:25 ak86ak86 34722goldbadges44silverbadges99bronzebadges 4 What'sthecontext? – Rabskatran Mar16,2011at11:43 AlsoRelated – HaL Mar16,2011at14:10 Ofnote,Ialsohear"hasacall." – MrHen Mar16,2011at19:28 @Pierre,referringtophone(possibly,conference)calls.Editeditin. – ak86 Mar17,2011at9:37 Addacomment  |  6Answers 6 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 19 Thetwoareusedinterchangeablyastobeinoronacallisafairlynewexpression,withsomeveryslightcontextualdifferences. "In"ismoreoftenusedtodescribewhethersomeonehassuccessfullyconnected(especiallyinconferencecalling):"Areyouinyet?".However,itissometimesusedmoregenerally"I'msorry,heisinacall"becauseitsoundssimilarto"inameeting".Youwouldn'tasksomeonehavingtechnicalproblems"areyouonyet?"though.(Thisisabitconfusing,becausewetalkaboutloggingon,butoncesomeonehasloggedon,theyareusuallydescribedas"in".) "On"ismoreoftenusedtodescribesomeonewhoisintheprocessoftakingpartinacallmoregenerally."Willyoubeonthatcallthisafternoon?".Butyoucouldequallysay"in"here. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar16,2011at11:52 kdtkdt 97577silverbadges66bronzebadges 1 Remindsmeofthisone-doyou"comeinfromtherain"?or"comeoutoftherain"? – scunliffe Mar17,2011at15:15 Addacomment  |  4 Thephrase"onacall"canalsomeanmakingavisit,usuallyanofficialone. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar16,2011at17:30 z7sgѪz7sgѪ 12.9k1818goldbadges5858silverbadges102102bronzebadges 1 1 Nottobeconfusedwith"oncall"whichissomethingcompletelydifferent. – MrHen Mar16,2011at19:27 Addacomment  |  0 Theterminologymayhavelostsomemeaningoflate,butpreviously"inacall",inamultipersonofficesituation,meantthatthepersonwasphysicallyinanofficewithseveralotherpeople,talkingviaspeakerphonewithsomeremoteparty(presumablyeitherasuperiororsomesignificantcustomer). "Onacall",ontheotherhand,wouldimplythatthepartyofwhichyouspeakisisoutoftheoffice,visitingacustomerlocation(or,foradoctor,visitingapatient). (And,ofcourse,"oncall"meanstheindividualisstandingreadytofulfillsomerole,shouldshebecalledtodoso.Inthiscasephysicallocationisunspecifiedandunimportant,solongasthepersoncanbereachedbyphone,pager,etc.) Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct11,2017at23:44 HotLicksHotLicks 26.8k33goldbadges5252silverbadges105105bronzebadges Addacomment  |  -1 Ifyouareinacallthenwhenyoustopoutofthecall?Clearlyyouareonthephoneandnotinthephone.Offthephonemakessensebutoutofthephonemakesnosense.Ivoteforonacallandinameetingbecauseoffthecallandoutofthemeetingmakemoresense. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct1,2015at15:55 DavidSDavidS 1 1 2 Thisanswermadenosense. – Mari-LouA Oct2,2015at7:25 Addacomment  |  -1 ..ifitreferstoa'phonecall',thecorrectformis"onacall"asin"onthephone". youcan'tbe"inaphonecall"forthesamereasonyoucan'tbe"IN"thephone. "inacall,isstreetEnglish! Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2017at17:44 DanielDaniel 1 2 2 We'relookingforlonganswersthatprovidesomeexplanationandcontext.Pleaseexplainwhyyouranswerisright,ideallywithcitations.Answersthatdon'tincludeexplanationsmayberemoved. – Davo Oct6,2017at18:38 1 Prepositionusageisidiosyncratic.Ifsomeonesaid'Youcan'tbe'onabus'forthesamereasonyoucan'tbe'onacar',woulditbeacceptable?Youneedtoexplainwhyyourclaimisanydifferent. – EdwinAshworth Oct6,2017at21:30 Addacomment  |  -2 "Call"canbeaverb,noun,oradjective.Thereforeyoucansayboth,dependingonwhatyoumean."Game"isonegoodexample,ifyou'replayingandsomeonecalledyou,youcansay,"I'minagame"youcouldalsosay,"I'monagame"Itdependsonthesituationandwhatgameareyouplaying.Sameappliesto"Inacall"or"Onacall".Youcan'tbeINSIDEthephone,ifyou'rereferringtothephone,that'saNOUN,but,ifitwillbeaconversation,that'llbeaVERB,oranADVERB,inthatcaseyounowcansay,"I'minaphonecall" Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct11,2017at22:21 LionelLionel 1 1 I'veneverheardof"I'monagame."Doyouhaveanreferenceforyouranswer? – KumaAra Oct12,2017at4:14 Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. 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