Learn English and meet people on the world’s largest EFL social network

We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!

Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Share this topic:
kukuzhang, 5 yr 148 days ago
yes, i agree with you.
Guest, 5 yr 99 days ago
See

To make it short,
if you don't know the person's name, you will write:

"Dear sir/madam,

(letter.. )

Yours faithfully,
Bernard"

If you know the person's name you'll write:

"Dear Madam Jessica Pretty,

(letter.. )

Yours sincerely,
Bernard"

If you are in an unformal relation, you'll use "Best wishes/Best regards"

Hope this helped...

bclabots yahoo.co.uk
Kaka Lee  +  43764 Sun, 29 Aug 04 04:37 AM
thanks to everyone.......
It's helpful to someone such as me.......
I usually write letter to foreign clients but my english is bad.......
I like english very much and I have to use it in my work....but my mother tongue is chinese
mmmmm....chinese is the best tool........Smile [:)]
Joined on Sat, Aug 28 2004
China
New Member 05
Many people died , but I'm still alive...... I'm lucky......
Guest, 4 yr 352 days ago
when I finsh my letter
chickenwing  +  57231 Wed, 24 Nov 04 01:03 PM
In formal letter,

Yours faithfully is used when you don't know the receiver of the letter at all. (Dear Sir)

Yours sincerely is used when you know the name of the person. (Dear David Beckham)

Best regards, best wishes, yours, thanks, etc are used when you are writing informal letters or friendly letters.

However, nowadays, the usages of the closing have not been so tightly restricted. Many people will use "Best regards" in formal letters.


PS: English is not my mother tongue, please correct me if I have something wrong.

Joined on Wed, Nov 24 2004
New Member 06
Best answer by bpb89  +  63090 Thu, 23 Dec 04 03:13 PM
Although all the above is correct it can become somewhat of a minefield when entering the realms of Perigee, Royalty & other titles; For example, if writing to your mayor it should set out as follows if you live in a City:

The Rt. Worshipful The Mayor of
(Councillor )
The Mayors Parlor
City Hall





Dear Mr/Madame Mayor, (Change as required



Respectfully Yours,

Joe Bloggs

HOWEVER this is not true if you live in a Town or Borough:

The Worshipful The Mayor of
(Councillor )
The Mayors Parlor
Town Hall





Dear Mr/Madame Mayor, (Change as required)



Respectfully Yours,

Joe Bloggs

Note that if in a City the Mayor is Worshipful in his/her own rights (The Rt. Worshipful), otherwise the Mayor is appointed as worshipful (The Worshipful). Also note that the Mayors forename is NEVER used (extremely rude to call the Mayor by his/her first name in public) and even if you know the Mayor you always end the letter with Respectfully yours (irrespective of gender or location)
Joined on Thu, Dec 23 2004
England, UK
New Member 01
B Briggs
Guest, 4 yr 315 days ago
for "To whom it may concern" letter......yours faithfully or yours sincerely should be used???
thanks a lot!!
Guest, 4 yr 254 days ago
Hello,

I found this through google.com, i'm writing a letter to complain about a bad train journey.

To make everyone who doesn't have english as their mother tongue feel better, I do, I'm english by birth and have lived in england all my life yet I still don't know how to end my letter!

I agree with most of the above, at work via email it's always "(With) Best regards" for colleagues no matter where they are in the world.

These days it seems there are no hard and fast rules, I personally don't know anyone in europe who would take offence if you addressed them wrongly at the end of the letter.

Personally I think the most important part is how you address them at the start of the letter, get the Miss/Mrs/Mr/Dr part correct.
pieanne  +  77293 Mon, 28 Feb 05 04:33 PM
Is there any way to "translate" the french "bises" (kisses) or "je t'embrasse" (I kiss you" into English, or is it simply NEVER done?
Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005
South of France ...But I'm Belgian!
Veteran Member 7,517
I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
© MediaCet Ltd. 2009, v5.0.3598.39794. All content posted by our users is a contribution to the public domain, this does not include imported usenet posts.*
For web related enquires please contact us on webmaster@mediacet.com, status updates are available at status.mediacet.com.
*Usenet post removal: Use 'X-No-Archive'. You may not have understood that your posts would end up in the public domain. Please send proof of the poster's email, we will remove immediately.