Formal/Informal Salutations and Complimentary Closes

Online Course: Effective Emailing in English Lesson 2: Formal vs. Informal Emails Formal/Informal Salutations and Complimentary Closes

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Salutations

The very first words of an email give a clear indication of the tone you are setting and the tone that you should maintain throughout your email. Below you will find some of the common formal, informal, and neutral salutations.

Formal	Neutral	Quite Informal	Informal
Dear Mr. Richardson, Dear Mrs. Williams, * Dear Ms. Simpson, *Dear Miss Johnson, **Dear Sir/Madam,	Dear Michael, Dear Gina,	Hello Michael, Good Morning Gina, Good Afternoon Rick, Good Evening Sintija,	Hi Michael, Hi Gina, Hi, Michael, (no salutation)

* “Mrs.” if you know that your recipient is a married woman. ** “Ms.” if you do not know whether the woman you are writing to is married or not. *** “Miss” if the woman you are writing to is not married. **** “Sir/Madam” if we do not know the name or gender of the recipient.

Complimentary Closes

Just as with salutations, the complimentary closes that you choose for your emails express varying levels of formality.

Formal	Neutral	Informal
Kind regards, Yours sincerely, *Yours faithfully,	Best regards, Regards,	Take care, All the best, (no complimentary close)

* “Yours sincerely” if you know the recipient’s name. ** “Yours faithfully” if you do not know the recipient’s name.

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