Business Letters. Inside Address and Complimentary Close

Inside address

Courtesy titles.

First and foremost, make sure that you spell the recipient's name correctly. You should also confirm the gender and proper title. Use Ms. for women and Mr. for men. Use Mrs. if you are 100% sure that a woman is married. Under less formal circumstances, or after a long period of correspondence it may be acceptable to address a person by his or her first name. When you don't know the name of a person and cannot find this information out you may write, "To Whom It May Concern". It is standard to use a comma (colon in North America) after the salutation. It is also possible to use no punctuation mark at all. Here are some common ways to address the recipient:

·         Dear Mr Powell,

·         Dear Ms Mackenzie,

·         Dear Frederick Hanson:

·         Dear Editor-in-Chief:

·         Dear Valued Customer

·         Dear Sir or Madam:

·         Dear Madam

·         Dear Sir,

·         Dear Sirs

·         Gentlemen

* Miss /mis/, Ms. /miz/, Messrs /mesǝz/ from Messieurs, Dr. (Doctor), Prof.(Professor), Capt.   

   (Captain) , etc

 Order of addresses:

- Name of house or building 

- Number of building and name of street, road, avenue, lane, etc. 

- Name of town or city and postcode 

- Name of country

Complimentary Close or Closing

Here are some common ways to close a letter. Use a comma between the closing and your handwritten name (or typed in an email). If you do not use a comma or colon in your salutation, leave out the comma after the closing phrase:

• Yours truly,
• Yours sincerely,
• Sincerely,
• Sincerely yours
• Thank you,
• Best wishes
• All the best,
• Best of luck
• Warm regards,

Dear Sir(s), Dear Madam(s), Dear Sir or Madam ------------------- Yours faithfully

Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms James, Dr/Prof. Johnson --------------------------- Yours sincerely

To someone you know well --------------------------------------------- Best wishes

Yours truly/Truly yours (Am. Eng.)