Dear Sir or Madam...

[nicolas]

Dear tdol,

Yes, I think it's a cute hybrid.

[valtango]

I wanted to vote on this and clicked around but nothing would let me vote. I am pretty sure that to end an official letter with no name, yours faithfully, is correct, or was, I know language changes. Yours sincerely, goes together with a name, Dear Mr. and Mrs Jones, for instance would end with yours sincerely.

[nicolas]

Dear valtango,


So what you mean is that if I write a letter to Mr. Jones,
I might end a letter with "Yours sincerely, Mr. Jones" ?

[RonBee]

Dear valtango,


So what you mean is that if I write a letter to Mr. Jones,
I might end a letter with "Yours sincerely, Mr. Jones" ?

Yes, indeed! Or:

• Sincerely yours,
  Sincerely,
  Yours truly,
  Regards, or
  Best regards

(I cannot imagine why anybody would not sign his name to a letter.)

:D

[valtango]

Yes indeed Nicolas that is exactly what I meant.. Sorry if I didn't explain it too well..

[Luzkos]

Sincerely Yours

[BobK]

Dear All,
I am a beginner at English :wink:
I have some questions as below:
1. What does the "yours" mean in those sentences?
2. Yours ever ?? What does it mean?
3. Do "Love" and "With Love" have the same meaning?
Thanks for your answer and have a nice day :P

1) The yours is an abbreviation for a formula used hundreds of years ago: 'your [[humble and] obedient] servant'. But I doubt whether many native speakers are aware of the derivation.

2) There were also other, less formal, forms of words: '[ever] your [devoted] friend/admirer' - 'yours ever' came from these. There were even formal uses of 'ever'. The most effusive would be 'ever your humble and obedient servant'. But most uses for 'ever' are less formal. You would not, today, write 'yours ever' in a formal letter.

3)

b

[Ouisch]

Complimentary closings vary from country to country, but in AmE, the traditional closings for a business letter (which I presume this example to be, as it's not particularly romatic to begin a love letter with "Dear Sir or Madam" ):

Sincerely,
Sincerely yours,
Very truly yours,
Regards,
Best regards,
Respectfully,

Politicians running for office will often sign their correspondence "Yours faithfully." They're dangerously close to Tony Blair territory....it probably won't be too long before "Yours ever" catches on over here.

[Daizee]

You use Yours Faithfully when you DON'T know the person's name and Yours Sincerely when you DO know the person's name!

[blueabell2go]

In standard British business usage:

If the letter starts with Dear Sir or Dear Madam the complimentary close is
Yours faithfully (note no capital F).

If the letter starts with Dear Mr Smith or Dear Miss Jones the complimentary close is Yours sincerely (note no capital S).

The issue is not whether you know the name or not, it's whether it is used in the salutation (the Dear ... part).