Formal salutation or greeting (punctuation)
Formal greetings (gender-neutral)
First off, use a gender-neutral way of adressing people. There are two ways of doing this, namely by using a person's academic title or by writing their name in full (first and last name):
- EXAMPLE: Dear Dr Johnson,
- EXAMPLE: Dear John Johnson,
- AVOID: Dear Mr/Mrs Johnson,
Always use a comma after the name and do not use a full stop after the abbreviated title:
- EXAMPLE: Dear Dr Smith,
- EXAMPLE: Dear James Smith,
If you know the gender of the person whom you are addressing and are sure that they appreciate being addressed as such, you may use the titles 'Mr' and 'Mrs':
- EXAMPLE: Dear Mr Johnson,
- EXAMPLE: Dear Mrs Jones,
If you are unsure of a woman's title preference, use 'Ms' (pronounced 'Miz'). This is a neutral and professionally acceptable title that does not indicate whether a woman is married ('Mrs') or not ('Miss"). It is the equivalent to the male title 'Mr'.
- EXAMPLE: Dear Ms Swift,
- AVOID: Dear Miss Swift,
If the woman refers to herself in previous correspondence specifically using one of the above titles (i.e. Mrs or Miss), then use that title:
- EXAMPLE: Dear Mrs Swift,
- EXAMPLE: Dear Miss Swift,
- AVOID: Dear Dr. Smith,
Proper nouns are capitalised
This applies to "team," "colleague," "employees", or other such nouns:
- EXAMPLE: Dear Team,
- EXAMPLE: Dear Colleague,
- EXAMPLE: Dear All,
When you do not know the name of the person you are writing to
There is almost no excuse for not being able to find out the name of the person you are writing to, so always try. If you still cannot find the name, then use their job title. Never ever leave a blank behind 'Dear':
- EXAMPLE: Dear [Job Title],
- EXAMPLE: Dear Hiring Manager,
- EXAMPLE: Dear HR Manager,
- AVOID: Dear ...,
As a last resort, you may use anonymous phrases such as 'To Whom It May Concern' or 'Dear Sir/Madam'. Of these two options, we recommend 'To Whom It May Concern,' as best of the bad bunch of anonymous greetings, since it is gender-neutral..
The use of 'To whom it may concern'
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to and wish to address the organisation more generally, then use this phrase. If you must use the phrase 'to whom it may concern', we recommend capitalising the phrase, since you are replacing a person's name with this salutation.
- EXAMPLE: To Whom It May Concern,
- AVOID: To whom it may concern,
The use of 'Dear Sir/Madam'
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, cannot find it out and wish to address that person specifically, you may use this salutation, although we would caution you to opt for 'To Whom It May Concern':
EXAMPLE: Dear Sir/Madam,
Reference list
Learning English 'FCE Formal Letter' Retrieved from http://www.rubenvalero.com/english/content/fce-formal-letter-or-email
Oxford Living Dictionaries 'Choose the right greeting and sign off'. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/writing-help/choose-the-right-greeting-and-sign-off
Oxford University Press 'Wiriting for Study and beyond'. Retrieved from https://global.oup.com/booksites/content/0199296251/writingforstudy/