English is a language that seems simple but is complex. The more you think about it, it will become more complicated to use, it is always better to go with the flow. When we think about a sentence or word excessively, it loses all its meaning, for example, “Call Ben for me” and “Call me Ben”, these sentences look quite simple and understandable, but people get puzzled because they think about these sentences more than required; thereby the sentences lose their meaning and sound the same.
English language or any other language is more than just words, there are many aspects that make up a sentence like, tenses or articles. There are many ways to make one sentence, for example, Call me Ben and My name is Ben. The idea of this sentence is the same but the words are different.
“Call Ben for me” and “Call me Ben”, the sentences look the same, but the ideas are completely different. When a person says “Call Ben for me,” they mean to call someone whose name is Ben for them, and when someone says, “Call me Ben,” that person means that their name is Ben and that they should be refered to by that name.
Keep reading to know more.
What does it mean when someone says “Call me Ben”?
People who aren’t fluent in English or any other language tend to have difficulties even with the simplest sentences. English is a language that doesn’t fall under the category of the hardest languages in the world, but it is quite confusing. As I said, even the easiest sentences can be confusing for people who aren’t fluent in English or starting to learn it, a sentence like “Call me Ben” seem so simple that some people think it isn’t what it really is.
“Call me Ben” is the most simple sentence in the English language and it is also the first sentence that is taught to someone who is just starting to learn a language, but it is no different from the sentence “My name is Ben”.
The idea that the sentence is conveying is that the person who is uttering this sentence is trying to tell you that their name is Ben so you should call them Ben.
Here is a list of different ways that this sentence can be said.
- Call me Ben.
- My name is Ben.
- I am Ben.
- I’m called Ben.
- I’m known as Ben.
- You can call me Ben.
What does it mean when someone says “Call Ben for Me?”
The person who is saying this sentence means they are asking for a person who is named Ben, in simpler words, they want to see Ben. It isn’t a difficult sentence, but people do confuse it with other similar sentences.
There are sentences that ask a question, but sometimes they are said in a way that doesn’t sound like a question for instance, “Call Ben for Me?” now this said in different tones can make it sound like an order, although it can be said in a way of giving an order. This sentence can be an order or a question, and you would have to sense the tone to know if it’s an order or a question.
Moreover, if these types of sentences are written, you can differentiate them easily because a question has a question mark at the end and a sentence that is in order, has a period at the end, or sometimes it has an exclamation point if there is an emotion involved.
What is the past tense of Call?
English or any other language has an aspect called tenses that are used to indicate if the sentence is narrating something in the past, present, or future tense, although there are many other commodities to actually make a sensible sentence. A sentence that makes sense includes at least a subject, verb, and object.
“Call” is a verb and it is present tense and its past tense is “Called.” All verbs have three tenses, this is how we understand if the sentence is in the past, present, or future tense.
Here is a table for the tenses of verbs.
| Past Tense | Present Tense | Future Tense |
| Called | Call | Call |
| Ran | Run | Run |
| Ate | Eat | Eat |
| Worked | Work | Work |
| Baked | Bake | Bake |
| Drank or Drunk | Drink | Drink |
Have a look at the video to learn about more tenses with examples.
Is it call for me or call me?
Both “call for me” and “call me” are correct but are used in different ways. When a person says, “Call for me,” they are asking someone to call someone for them. When a person says “Call me,” they are asking a person to call them.
People who are fluent in English can differentiate between two sentences that sound the same, but people who aren’t fluent will find it hard to even differentiate between the simplest sentences.
It is normal to make mistakes because the sentences sound the same, when a person says, call for me, he could be asking a question or giving an order, it could be sensed by the tone and when someone says, call me, they are asking to call them.
To Conclude
The English language seems simple, but it is complicated to use. When we think about a sentence or word excessively, it loses all its meaning, for example, “Call Ben for me” and “Call me Ben”, these are understandable and simple sentences, but people who aren’t fluent in English get confused because they think about these sentences excessively to understand them.
There are many ways to say one sentence, such as “Call me Ben” and “My name is Ben.” Both of these sentences are saying the same thing, but the words are different. When a person is saying, “Call Ben for me”, they are trying to say to another person that, there is someone named Ben and they need you to call them. When someone says, “Call me Ben” they are telling their name and asking you to call them by this name.
There are sentences that when said in person can seem like an order sometimes, but are really just questions, for instance, “Call Ben for me?” if this sentence is said in a different tone, it can sound like an order, or a question, you have to sense the tone to know if it’s an order or just a question. When you see this type of sentence in writing, it is easy to differentiate if it’s an order or a question or an order. An order will have a period or an exclamation point and a question will have a question mark.
Both “call for me” and “call me” are correct, they both convey different ideas. When a person says, call for me, he is asking or ordering someone to call someone for him for example, call Ben for me. When a person says, call me, he is asking a person to call him. Both are correct, but it is understandable how people who aren’t fluent in English can find it difficult to differentiate which is wrong or which should be used at the time.
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