Talk:Business letter

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Contents 1 Closing 1.1 Yours faithfully 2 bigger pictures 3 Who cares? 4 Example 5 Capitalization

[edit] Closing

In the US, I have never seen any other closing than "Sincerely, name". "Yours" and "faithfully" are not used. Niether are "Regards", "with (kind, sincere, etc) regards", etc.

• I agree. I would probably fall out of my chair laughing if I received a business letter signed 'Sincerely Yours' or 'Yours Truly'. I have seen business letters ending with 'Respectfully Submitted' and 'Sincerely'. It sounds more like an ending to a love letter than a business letter. Mil97036 17:50, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
• I've seen "Sincerely", "Yours sincerely", "Sincerely yours" (quite frequently), "(With) [best/kindest] regards", "Respectfully yours", "Very truly yours" (quite frequently), "Cordially yours" and other signoffs in business letters in the US. However, "Yours truly" doesn't seem appropriate to me - it's more like something you'd use with a friend or relative. "With best regards" and "Yours sincerely", to me, sound more polite than "Best regards" or "Sincerely" for the first time you contact someone; after a relationship is established then you can use the shorter version - in my personal opinion I must stress. {59.121.188.97 07:43, 26 October 2006 (UTC)}
• I have only ever seen "Sincerely yours", "Truly yours" or "Yours truly" in Business letters from non-native english speakers. "Yours truly" sounds too affectionate for a business letter; I have only seen this in personal letters. I did find "Yours truly" in Poe, Roy (1994). The McGraw-Hill Handbook of Business Letters, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-113589-8.  but its a little out of date, and "Yours truly" is missing from (2004, reprint 2005) Collins Letter Writing: Communicate Effectively by Letter or Email. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-720853-7. , which is more up-to-date on modern usuage. There are references which cite it as an example, but these often encompass rules dating back to the 19th century that are not applied today.--Shakujo 01:54, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Yours faithfully

I note the following entry in the article: "In the UK, the use of the closing 'Yours sincerely,' is generally reserved for a recipient whose name is known, substituting 'Yours faithfully,' where it is not known." I find this nonsensical. How can one be faithful to someone that one has not already established a relationship with? Bubbha 10:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't refer to being true and staying "faithful", it refers to a much older style, "Your faithful servant". This is in effect a promise that, what has been said in the letter and what you intend to do is honest and decent, and that the writer is worthy of trust. "Yours sincerely" signals that what has been written is merely honest, the assumption of trust arising because the person is known.--Shakujo 07:50, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] bigger pictures

Since the author him/herself provided the picture of the English letter, could we get a bigger version? It and the German letter are completely illegible now. --Espoo 12:16, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who cares?

With regards to this page not being typed in an "encylopedic tone", I doubt this is the reason it was created. I think it should remain to help people write these letters.

• It isn't very helpful the way it is written. I agree that it should be rewritten to provide the information in a better format. Mil97036 17:45, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
• I've made modifications to the article to put it in more of an informational tone and less of a 'how to' tone.

[edit] Example

You know, while looking for help myself, I just needed to see an example... which to my surprise, there isn't one. Colonel Marksman 20:12, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

There are so many variations on a standard letter and so many opinions that, frankly, if an example was put up then it would probably end up being edited and reverted until everyone got fed up and removed it completely, whereupon someone would complain that there wasn't an example. Letter style is as much a question of personal taste as punctuation, see Truss, Lynne (2005-10-31). Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1861976772.  Why not check out some of the citations at a library? Additional references to some actual letter style manuals wouldn't go amiss though.--Shakujo 00:47, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

• I don't think I was understood. There ARE parts to a business letter (is what I mean).

No matter how a business letter is written, there is still an inside address, body, and closing (and occassional PS). The content of the letter and the wording itself is irrelevant, and could even remain blank, or have explainatory sentences. The fact is, a business letter has certain properties to it you don't see in an informal letter. THAT is what I needed to see. Example: http://www.qofp.com/letters.htm. Colonel Marksman 05:25, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

As I said some further references wouldn't go amiss, which is exactly what this is. I note that the website in your example takes information from "Book 5, Basic Skills in English, McDougal, Littell & Company, 1981", a reference that is entitled to copyright protection, so we need to be careful not to infringe it, as per Wikipedia:Copyrights.--Shakujo 06:47, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

• I think you will also find that many of the features you have listed are missing from some business letters, that doesn't make them not business letters. Style is now and will always be a question of taste. As Burchfield states in the introduction of Burchfield, R W (1998). The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. Clarendon Press Oxford, xi. ISBN 0-19-860263-4.  examples and style guides merely attempt to:

  "... guide readers to make sensible choices in linguistically controversial area of words, meanings, grammatical constructions, and pronunciations."

  Therefore, there is only a choice; there is no right or wrong answer, except that a "business letter" concerns "business" and that a letter written in a "business-style" is merely written in a formal tone appropriate to the person receiving the letter. The content of this article is just the generally accepted view of what most people think a "business letter" is.
  To deride an encyclopedia article for presenting a view held by a large number of verifiable sources, written by acknowledged experts in the field is unhelpful. As I said why not help by adding sources to the actual article? --Shakujo 07:25, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

I noticed that the optional items are capitalized in the "Parts of a Business Letter" section (RE, CC, ENC) but are in mixed case or lower case in the "Business Letter Layout Guidelines" section (Enc, cc). Are they truly interchangeable, or are they supposed to be in a particular case? Brien Clark 00:45, 9 March 2007 (UTC)