ABSTRACT

When beginning your letter, note the following conventions:

Dear Sir opens a letter written to a man whose name you do not know.

Dear Sirs is often used to address a firm where at least one of the members of the firm is male. However, Dear Sir or Madam 1 is arguably a better alternative, since it does not assume that the person who opens the letter will be a man.

Dear Mesdames (extremely formal and rarely used) is used to address a firm where all the members are female.

Dear Madam is used to address a woman, whether single or married, whose name you do not know.

Dear Sir or Madam (or Dear Sir/Madam ) is used to address a person when you do not know their name or sex.

When you know the name of the person you are writing to, but do not know them well, the salutation takes the form of Dear followed by a courtesy title (i.e. Mr, Ms, Miss, Mrs etc.) and the person’s surname.