ending a letter?

This question has been answered · 19 replies
Forums · General English Grammar & Vocabulary, Listening & Speaking · General English Grammar Questions
1 2 3
Hello guys,
I have seen many letters have different ending words such as sincerely,best regard, with much love ect... I don't understand what they mean that's why I have never used them in my letter. The only words I used in my letter are Thank You. I am really appreciated if you guy can give the meaning of these words and when to use it. If you have more ending words, I would more than welcome to see it...
Thank You very much,
New Member09
Approved answer (verified by )
Complimentary closings are highly standardized and carry little intrinsic meaning. Opinions vary slightly. Here is one summary from AN ONLINE STYLEGUIDE :

Complimentary Closing
The complimentary closing should convey the level of formality and degree of personal feeling that the writer has for the reader.
The complimentary closing (omitted in the simplified letter format) appears two lines below the last line of text. Its alignment varies with the format of the letter:

In block letters, the complimentary closing
appears flush with the left margin.

In modified and semiblock letters, the
complimentary appears right of center or may
be flush with the right margin.
Complimentary closings for business letters include:
Sincerely,		 Sincerely yours,	 Thank you,
Complimentary closings for informal letters include:
Best wishes,		 Kindest regards,	 Regards,

Best regards,		 Cordially,
Complimentary closings for very formal letters (those addressed to dignitaries and high officials) include:
Yours sincerely,	 Respectfully yours,	 Respectfully,
The word "truly" has become a cliche and should be avoided in letter closings.
Veteran Member113,337
SystemAdministrator: A system administrator takes care of the inner workings of the entire system. These users have the ability to promote, ban and modify other users.Teachers: Users in this role are certified teachers. This may include DELTA, CELTA, TESOL, TEFL qualified professionals. Email a scan of your qualification to an admin, if you wish to be considered.
Approved answer (verified by )
Hi,

I have seen many letters have different ending words such as sincerely,best regard, with much love ect... I don't understand what they mean that's why I have never used them in my letter. The only words I used in my letter are Thank You. I am really appreciated if you guy can give the meaning of these words and when to use it. If you have more ending words, I would more than welcome to see it...
Here are just a few brief comments.

Yours sincerely - put at the end of a business letter, or a letter where you want to be quite formal.

Best regards - is polite to put at the end of a letter to a friend

With much love - put if you love the person. You can also just shorten it to 'Love'.

Thank you. - is not really an ending. If you want to thank the person for something, write 'thank you' before you write one of the endings above.

After the ending, sign your name below.

Best wishes, Clive
Veteran Member78,576
Moderator: A super-user who takes care of the forums. You have the ability to message a moderator privately should you wish. These users have a range of elevated privileges including the deletion, editing and movement of posts when needed.Teachers: Users in this role are certified teachers. This may include DELTA, CELTA, TESOL, TEFL qualified professionals. Email a scan of your qualification to an admin, if you wish to be considered.
ALL REPLIES
Thank you for your note, I'm sure is very helpful for many people.

Sincerely.

PA
English must not be your first language? Sincerely means you feel sincere(strongly) about what you have wrote. Best regards can be used if you are writing to a friend or an aquaintince, its used when you want the person to know you hope all is well with them. Much love is strictly used for family, lover, b/f,g/f. Basically the context of the letter will determine how you end it.

Did that help??
"Love, peace, and bacon grease,"

Obviously not to be used in any sort of formal format
Use an Internet dictionary. Go to google.com and type in define:sincerely and you'll get what your looking for. Cheers
HI, can someone please enlighten me on this one?

There's this girl that knows my interest in her, and it's still there even after our break-up due to some interest-comflict, which was a major influence as deemed by her.

After some time, I emailed her to greet on her. She ended the message with much love, people that I've asked, said that's usually for close friends/relatives or sibling-like. Can that be stayed true as a common theory? I'm having mixed feelings about it.

OR I'm just being too paranoid? Haha. Thanks alot if you could help me out with this one.
Some people use 'much love' to end anything short of a business letter.
SystemAdministrator: A system administrator takes care of the inner workings of the entire system. These users have the ability to promote, ban and modify other users.Teachers: Users in this role are certified teachers. This may include DELTA, CELTA, TESOL, TEFL qualified professionals. Email a scan of your qualification to an admin, if you wish to be considered.
Show more

Places to start


Social


  • Like us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Google+

    • Browse Englishforums


    Help