ESL Linguistics Discussion Forum

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:07:31 GMT

If you are writing to someone whose name and title you do not know, use the greeting Dear Sir or Madam, and the ending Yours faithfully, signing yourself with your initials and surname.

If you are writing to a named person, address them as Dear Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms, and end Yours sincerely, followed by your first name and surname.

If you have met them or spoken to them by phone, or otherwise feel that you have some acquaintance with them, address them by their first name and sign yourself Yours sincerely, using your first name.

SOURCE: AskOxford

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Tidus — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:48:12 GMT

Formally in English there should only be "Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully". Note that sincerely never starts with a capital S or faithfully with a capital F.

If you begin a letter with Dear Sir/Madam, then it should be signed off with Yours faithfully. Everything else ie Dear Alan, or Dear Mr Jones, should be signed off with Yours sincerely.

If you are writing an informal letter to a friend then you can pretty much sign it off with whatever you like ie yours truly, kind regards or whatever.

Re: When to use 'Your Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:20:06 GMT

It is incorrect to write 'to whom it may concern'. The correct way to address a letter to somebody you don't know in England, is Dear Sir...Yours faithfully

Re: When to use 'Yours Faithfully, Sincerely or Thanks'

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:56:45 GMT

thnku 4 dat it has hellped me wit my skool assesment lol ta again

anon

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:44:12 GMT

Its simple to remember...

Whilst you can be sincere to someone you know... you have to rely on Faith that someone you don't know will attend to your letter properly.

Think of faith as being an uncertainty, a belief etc. If you have no idea who is going to get the letter you only have faith that it will even be read!!

GB

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

MrPedantic — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:32:37 GMT

Or perhaps with an exclamation.

MrP

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:49:54 GMT

With regards to exclamation marks, surely the language used should denote the emotion. Only in reported speach should you need an exclamation mark to show that the words were expressed forcefully.

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

nona the brit — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:51:49 GMT

I agree that it does sound more logical your way but the business convention is the other way round. Just one of those things.

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:24:35 GMT

Hello everyone, I found this site via google due to a debate with a colleague over the correct use of sincerely/faithfully in a letter

My argument is that when you dont know someone and wish to send them a formal letter, you end with 'yours sincerely' as its the initiation of correspondence and its to show you are sincere in your words and motives. Once they have replied and you write to them again then you have established a rapport with the person so therefore are faithful to them in your correspondence hence 'yours faithfully'

Other posts in this thread seem to argue the other side and therefore the majority disagrees with my reasoning. I guess im wrong then lol

But as someone pointed out, the english language has evolved as a result of constant change and revision, so hopefully people in future might agree that my logic on this is the most reasonable and the system will be inverted one day so that its finally correct!

Thanks

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Grammar Geek — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 05:23:34 GMT

MrPedantic wrote:

Hello Anon

"Yours truly" is mostly used in American English, so I'm not too sure. Maybe a passing AmE will let us know.

MrP

Passing American here.

Having spent most of my day today drafting business letters (dunning letters, actually), I can honestly say I have never closed a business letter with anything other than "Sincerely," In no way is this considered casual or informal in business use in the U.S.

I don't know that I have ever used "Yours truly," but I suppose I would use it in personal correspondence to someone I don't know well. For example, if a friend of a friend had hosted me on a visit, my "bread and butter note" might be closed that way. Since we are a shockingly casual race, we tend to end letters with things like "Thanks again," or "Looking forward to seeing you soon," and then signing our names.

Sometimes as I find myself typing "Sincerely" I have this passing fanciful notion that somewhere in a vault are all the letter that were written insincerely, but were not allowed to be sent out.

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Mister Micawber — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:41:13 GMT

Sincerely is certainly not disrespectful; it is quite nice. It may be a little formal, and I suppose that your dad would have preferred you to sign it Love. Love is quite useful in this way, as it does not require love, but does express casual, close friendliness-- so long as you don't use it to a person of a similar age and opposite sex.

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:28:10 GMT

Hello

I signed my dads girlfriends birthday card Sincerely, he thinks this is inappropriate, and disrespectful, this was truley not my intent, I sincerely wish her a Happy Birthday

Let me know if I am wrong

Patty

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

MrPedantic — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:33:15 GMT

Hello Anon

"Yours truly" is mostly used in American English, so I'm not too sure. Maybe a passing AmE will let us know.

MrP

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 15:55:44 GMT

So when do you use yours truly??

Re: When to use 'Yours Sincerely, Faithfully, or Thanks'

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 01:10:51 GMT

"love and kisses" or "hugs and kisses" are not uncommon, but these would generally only be used for family, usually an adult writing to a child or a maybe a child writing to an adult.

Adding an x to the end of an email is quite common amoung young people. Girls will tend to do it to any friend of either sex, and some lads will tend to do it to any girl. This does not imply an attraction.

People who do this will to add a single x all the time. eg:

... I'll see you at the weekend.

John
x

In SMS text messaging an x is often added without even a name, eg:

I'll see you at the weekend.x

I would be wary about using more than one x. Usually three is ok from a girl, but from a lad to a girl it might mean that he fancied her.

Using any number of x's to family is fine.