Call Me!

Ana left a question for me the other day. She wanted to know the correct way of using call.

Now, like many words in the English language, call has many definitions but I'm assuming that Ana is asking about usage where the telephone is concerned--"Use the phone and call me." In this instance, call me is correct. So, you can say "He called me" or "Call her tonight." The explanation for this is simply usage: call is the verb and me (or him, her, etc.) is the object, the one who received the action. There is no need for the word up.

Call up, though, has uses as well. Technically, call up means very close to "bringing out information, a memory, or a discussion." You say "Well, they sure call up old times with their stories," or "That's a new company policy. Shall we call it up before everyone?"

Ana, I hope I was able to answer your question and thanks so much for reading. English is really a tricky language to learn as many rules are arbitrary but learning it is very enjoyable and rewarding.