placement of "cc" within a formal letter

[Unregistered]

This site is fantastic!

I have a grammar question for you, when writing a formal letter where & how do you place the cc of the person you are also sending the letter to?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Nick (wish i had this site in high school!)

[mykwyner]

The end of the letter should look like this:

Respectfully yours, (complimentary close)

(four spaces for your written signature)

U.N. Registered (your typed name)

Enlclosures (if any are included)

cc: George W. Bush (copy sent to this person)

UNR/mjw (initials of the writer/typist if they are separate persons)

[pedant]

The formalities of letter writing depend on local customs and how obsolete you want to appear to be!

In England, one would write


Dear Sir

(whatever it is you want to write....)

Yours faithfully

(signature goes here)

Hosea Firefighter (your name goes there)



cc. HoseB Firefighter (who you are copying it to).
cc. HoseC Firefighter (someone else you may be copying it to).
_____________________________________________
HOWEVER...in this modern day and age why not become much more polite and less formal and say:

Dear Sir

(whatever it is you want to write....)

I've also sent a copy of this letter to HoseB Firefighter and HoseC Firefighter.

Yours faithfully


(signature goes here)

Hosea Firefighter (your name goes there)

generally 'Formal' letters are not appreciated anymore - most people aren't formal, they're just like you!

[nicklovesenglish]

Thank you so much!

[Ouisch]

The formalities of letter writing depend on local customs and how obsolete you want to appear to be!

In England, one would write


Dear Sir

(whatever it is you want to write....)

Yours faithfully

(signature goes here)

Hosea Firefighter (your name goes there)



cc. HoseB Firefighter (who you are copying it to).
cc. HoseC Firefighter (someone else you may be copying it to).
_____________________________________________
HOWEVER...in this modern day and age why not become much more polite and less formal and say:

Dear Sir

(whatever it is you want to write....)

I've also sent a copy of this letter to HoseB Firefighter and HoseC Firefighter.

Yours faithfully


(signature goes here)

Hosea Firefighter (your name goes there)

generally 'Formal' letters are not appreciated anymore - most people aren't formal, they're just like you!

I beg to differ. Formality never goes out of style. Neither does common courtesy. When you send a letter to a company (with or without your CV), don't you make your letter as formal as possible? Your CC example above ("I've also sent a copy....") may be fine for a casual email between friends, or co-workers at the same job level, but it is unacceptable for standard business correspondence.

Being polite and acting according to the formality of an occasion does not make you "obsolete." Actions speak louder than words. If you insist upon treating every situation as if it is a frat party, you will be branded as immature no matter how old you actually are.

[pedant]

Sorry, but as a director of a company employing people I can say with certainty that I really do not appreciate unnecessary formality. People work WITH us, not FOR us. They don't need to grovel, they don't need to be over-polite. We much prefer to employ people who talk and write normally - all of us have to deal with normal people in our business so we all need to be comfortable with normal use of language.

Use of CC at the end of a letter is probably at least 30 years obsolete - if you want to tell me you've also sent copies to someone else, it is surely just common courtesy to tell me to my face, not as some coded footnote.

[mykwyner]

I see your point. However, it is far more likely to offend someone by being overly (in his point of view) informal than overly formal. When you are communicating with someone whose penchant for formality is unknown to you, I always recommend erring on the side of caution. Formality is a form of politeness. Being overly polite can be percieved as silliness; being overly impolite is considered rudeness. Why take chances?