In last week’s post, I talked about how to address a formal and informal letter or email. But what do you do when you don’t know the person’s name to whom you’re sending your letter or message? Or, you don’t know what gender (male or female) that person is?

For a formal or business letter, you can use “Dear Sir or Madam:” “Sir” is a very polite term for a man and “madam” is a very polite term for a woman. This is useful no matter which gender the person reading your letter may be. Perhaps 50 years ago it was acceptable to only use “Dear Sir:” if you didn’t know the gender of the person you’re writing. However, it is not acceptable today. The woman reading your letter, especially if you’re applying for a job, scholarship, or anything else, may not have a favorable (good; positive) opinion of you right off the bat (immediately; right away). She may think you’re sexist (think women are less important than men) or presumptuous (don’t know what is appropriate or socially acceptable), and that’s probably not the impression or impact you’re trying to make.

Some people use the greeting “To whom it may concern:” when they don’t know the name or gender of the recipient (person receiving something). This greeting is useful when, for example, writing a letter to the telephone company because there is a mistake in your bill. However, it is not considered the most respectful or courteous for formal business correspondence (letters and notes). Instead, use “Dear Sir or Madam:” or the job title of the person you are writing:

• Dear Recruiter: (the person accepting applications for a job or position)
• Dear Claims Adjuster: (the person who takes care of your insurance matters)

If your note or email is very informal and you don’t know who will be reading it, it’s acceptable to just use:

• Hi,
• Hello,
• Greetings,
• Good morning/afternoon/evening,

I hope these two posts have answered some of the questions you may have had about salutations.

~ Lucy

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Language & Terms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.