Letter Writing - Part 1 - How to begin and end a letter

The forms of address used to begin and end a letter take three parts - the salutation, the recipient's name and the complimentary close.

Depending on the information you have about your recipient, use the following as a guide:

* if the name of the recipient is known - Dear Mr Blake ... Yours sincerely

* if the name of the recipient is known, but the gender is not clear or the marital status is not known - Dear Tony Blake or Dear T Blake ... Yours sincerely. While this form sounds a little awkward, it could be much more awkward if you guess at gender or marital status incorrectly.

* if the name and gender of the recipient is unknown (eg. you are writing to a bank manager) - Dear Sir/Madam ... Yours faithfully

It should be noted that 'Yours faithfully' is the more formal of the two types of complimentary close, whereas 'Yours sincerely' denotes a degree of familiarity.

Whatever the purpose of your letter, you can be sure that if you begin and end in the correct manner, you stand a far greater chance of achieving your writing purpose.

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