Poll: Dear Mrs Hasan.....

Stunz

But how well do we know her; what are we writing to her about; and don't we usually dispense with the commas after "sincerely" or "faithfully" in modern business correspondence?

tdol

The comas can be left out. I'd use 'sincerely' with a name regardless of how wel I know them. If I wanted to use 'love', then I'd normally be on first names terms. ;-)

tdol

I meant 'commas'. ;-(

Joan

What's so wrong with the comma?

colyn

Dear Mrs Hasan

You are the worst employee I have ever had in my department. You are fired.

Love

H.D. Smith (Manager)

Thornton

Must be sincerely. Anything else would be too personal. If you're calling her Mrs., you woldn't sign it love.

intrepid

For 50 years I have used "Sincerely yours," for all formal communication. It is a standard use in the USA. When the "Yours" is placed first, it implies a personal knowledge of the addressee.

Winston

That's different from British English, where the distinction is on whether we use a name or not, and not whether we know them or not.

Jenny

faithfully is used when using Sir or Madam - love is personal

Ana

The rules of official letter writing (the Gospel according to LCCI and Pitman Board of Education):
If you open a letter with "Dear Mr/Mrs", close it with "Yours sincerely".
If you open a letter with "To Whom It May Concern", close it with "Yours faithfully".
Mega lolz @ colyn's post - priceless. :D

Will

Oh, for crying out loud. This is 2013. Yours faithfully/Sincerely is so old-fashioned. Just write 'Best Regards'.