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How should emails begin?
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If I am writing to someone for work, I use Good Morning or Good Afternoon... but should those be capitalized?Yikes...
I use Greetings! for people I don't know...
I don't have a solution, but to base ditching "dear" on the idea that it's too intimate... if that's true now, it was always true. "Dear" has been used for strangers since which century?
Me too, Kristina. That's how I start mine too. And I capitalize. Why do we do that?I never use "Dear" in an email but I still use it in formal letters sometimes. Lots of spam emails begin with "Dear" I've noticed.
I still tend to use "Dear Mr. Smith" or "Dear Ms. Jones" when writing a business email to someone that I don't know at all, for instance if I'm approaching a publication with a query letter (which, oddly, is still called a query letter even when it's an email). This may be a bit formal, but at least it seems respectful, which is always a nice point to stress, although as time goes by it does seem likely that more and more people will perceive it as stiff or an anachronism. It's a tough call.When writing an email to a friend, I would never use "Dear Bob"--"Hi Bob" or just "Hi" or "Bob" seems to work fine--but the problem to me doesn't seem to be that "Dear" implies intimacy. It just seems like too much of a business-world convention (at this point) to carry over into casual, friendly email.
I've used "To whom it may concern" but I'm never sure how to capitalize it properly since I swear I learned in school that you use Title capitalization since it's in place of a name.
Depends on the email. I almost always start the first line with "I hope you're doing well." And I mean it. Usually.
I usually say Hi and their name, and then get straight to the business at hand. I'm usually replying to some work related thing, if it's an email. And if it's in the middle of a series of back and forth emails, I don't have a salutation at all.
I probably should have amended that to say, "when sending a formal e-mail" but it was 5 or 6 am and I hadn't gone to bed yet. Usually I don't put anything unless it's someone who I don't know that well in which case I put "hi" or "hello" sometimes followed by their name. If it's a friend I haven't talked to in a while it's generally "howdy" or "hey."
If it’s formal to someone I don’t know I start with ‘Good Morning,Afternoon’If it’s a bunch of stodgy old men (I work mainly with men) I write, Dear Sirs,
if it’s someone I am acquainted with, but don’t speak to often- it’s ‘Hope this finds you well’
if I have no idea who will be reading it it’s “To Whom It May Concern’.
RandomAnthony wrote: "Welcome to TC, Helena!"Thank You- I suppose I should go introduce myself somewhere...
Just the fact that we have to discuss this pisses me off. This is basic common sense.
Because it's something we all should have learned in 7th grade. Just because it's email doesn't change anything except now you don't have to write down the date and time.
Mod
For job applications, "Dear Sir or Madam."For personal friends, "Hi" or "Hey" or I just use the person's name.
Mod
Sally wrote: "Aujklafishugh. Whaterver."That sounds like it might be an e-mail salutation in an obscure Norse dialect!
Aujklafishugh, Sally!
I don't write that many formal emails, unless I am writing a cover letter--then it's Dear or Hi (insert name).For all the rest of my emails I just start off as if I'm greeting them in person or on the phone: hey, how's it goin'? Most of the time I just skip the greeting and go right into what I want to tell them, like a text message. Life is too short.
Emails and formal don't really belong in the same sentence, so I don't see the need in having to start with a formal greeting. Any time I email someone I know in real life, it's because I'm trying to avoid a phone call.The only formal emails (had to fight off the urge to type imo!) are business/company related ones. You might not want to be casual if you have a boss that won't appreciate it.
Sometimes I think it isn't what it is at all.
Mod
Larry wrote: "Sometimes I think it isn't what it is at all."You're stealing my thoughts. Quit it.
Stacia ~ the plucky heroine wrote: "The only formal emails (had to fight off the urge to type imo!)"
Oooops sorry Stacia. You just go for it. It's probably a translation problem, I'll look to have have my babel fish adjusted.
Oooops sorry Stacia. You just go for it. It's probably a translation problem, I'll look to have have my babel fish adjusted.
What is appropriate in a modern, formal or informal letter? To a colleague, family member, or friend? Is there a standard equivalent to the outdated "dear" we are all so loath to use?
Hi? Hey? Hello?
What do you think?