British English Formal Letters

[TheShadow]

Hi,


In formal letters do you put a dot (.) after a greeting?

For example: Dear sir or madam -> is it correct like that? or you do you have to add a dot after madam?

And for example Dear Mr Johnson -> is this correct? do you have to add a dot somewhere? or is it the correct form?


Thanks

[emsr2d2]

We definitely don't put a dot after Sir or Madam. A dot indicates an abbreviation.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the current thinking is on whether we still put a dot after Mr, Mrs and Ms. Personally, I don't. I would start a letter:

Dear Mr Johnson

[5jj]

in BrE, we do not normally put a full stop (period) after an abbreviation when the final letter of the abbreviation is the final letter of the the full word: Mr Mrs Ms Dr .

We never put a full stop after the opening 'Dear .....'. Many people use a comma there; some use no punctuation.

[SoothingDave]

A comma is the traditional way. I have also used a colon.

[Tdol]

The colon isn't used much in BrE- it's generally either a comma or nothing.

[tedtmc]

As I understand, the use of a dot to denote an abbreviation as in 'Mister' to 'Mr.' used to be the practice in the old days, up to the seventies probably.

A comma was also the practice after the opening address of a letter as in 'Dear Mr. Smith,'.

There is also the comma used after a house number and street names in an address, e.g. 45, High St,

Apparently, all the little punctuation marks have been dispensed with.

not a teacher

[SoothingDave]

Using a period for "Mr." or "Dr." or similar titles is the norm in America.

Youngstown News, NY Times calling it for Romney in Fla. - Newswatch

See, for example, this news story.

[Tdol]

As I understand, the use of a dot to denote an abbreviation as in 'Mister' to 'Mr.' used to be the practice in the old days, up to the seventies probably.

A comma was also the practice after the opening address of a letter as in 'Dear Mr. Smith,'.

There is also the comma used after a house number and street names in an address, e.g. 45, High St,

Apparently, all the little punctuation marks have been dispensed with.

not a teacher

Like 5jj, I was taught not to use the full stop after abbreviations that ended with the last letter of the word (Mr/Mrs/Ms/Dr) but to do so when they didn't (Rev./Prof.). However, nowadays this distinction seems to less marked and it seems to be largely down to personal preference in BrE.