In touch

In touch

“In touch”

“To be in touch” is a phrase that most often means to stay in contact with someone , or to maintain communication with someone.

When you say you’ll “be in touch” with someone, you’re promising to keep talking or communicating in the future . That’s the most common way to use it. But “in touch” can also mean being aware of or connected to something.

Let’s start with staying in contact.

Maintaining contact

“To be in touch” is all about communication; it doesn’t have to be talking. It can be through phone calls, emails, texts, or face-to-face meetings . We often use “in touch” when we want to make sure that a relationship or a connection continues, even if we’re not seeing the person every day.

That’s important. You wouldn’t say to your husband or wife, “we’ll be in touch.” Presumably , you see each other, or talk to each other, every day. You use “in touch” with people that you don’t see every day. To be in touch means to make an intentional effort to stay connected .

Imagine you’ve just had a great meeting with a potential business partner . At the end of the conversation, you might say, “Let’s be in touch.” This simple phrase is a way of saying that you want to continue the conversation, to keep the lines of communication open . It’s an informal but polite way of saying that you’ll reconnect in the future , you’ll be in touch. You’ll talk again.

You can also use “to be in touch” with friends and family. Let’s say you run into an old friend from high school. You have a quick chat , and just before parting ways , you might say, “We should stay in touch.”

This means you’re interested in keeping the friendship going, making an effort to stay connected, even though you hadn’t been in touch for a while. You might say, “We hadn’t been in touch for many years. Then we re-connected , and we’ve stayed in touch ever since .”

After a job interview , a recruiter might tell a candidate, “We’ll be in touch.” That’s a professional way of saying that the company will contact the candidate with more information or a final decision. It’s a polite, neutral phrase that keeps the candidate informed without making any promises about a decision.

Someone might ask you, “Are you still in touch with your old boss ?” or “Do you keep in touch with your old boss?” These questions are a way of asking whether you still communicate with a former employer. Staying in touch with a former boss might involve occasional emails , text messages, LinkedIn messages, or even meeting up for coffee or lunch from time to time. That all counts as staying in touch.

In all these cases, the big idea is the same: “To be in touch” means you’re keeping the door open for future communication. Whether you’re making a new friend, continuing a business relationship, or simply trying to keep up with someone you care about, saying “Let’s be in touch” is a simple, effective way to make sure that the relationship continues.

Awareness or understanding

There are two other ways to use “in touch,” but they’re less common. So here we go.

“To be in touch with” can mean to be aware of or informed about a particular topic. For example, you might say, “She’s really in touch with the latest fashion trends.” That means, she’s nothing like me! It means, she knows what’s currently popular and fashionable. She reads the magazines, peruses the blogs , watches videos, goes to shows, talks to designers. She knows what’s going on . She’s in touch with what’s happening in the fashion world.

Emotional connection

And then finally, “To be in touch” can also refer to being emotionally aware or connected, either to yourself or to others. It’s common to say someone is “in touch with their emotions,” or, let’s be honest, maybe it’s more common to say someone is “not in touch with their emotions.”

If you’re in touch with your emotions , you understand, think about, and acknowledge your feelings .

You might say that someone is “in touch with his creative self.” And that means the person is aware of, or connected to, his own creativity . Like that.