comma or colon

[lilyputian67]

hi everyone, is it proper to use a comma afer the greeting in a business letter?

[Daniel]

hi everyone, is it proper to use a comma afer the greeting in a business letter?

Can you quote the example in question?

[Maeve]

According to the OWL (Purdue writing lab), a colon, not a comma should be used after "Dear Sir"


Punctuation after the salutation and closing - use a colon [:] after the salutation (never a comma) and a comma (,) after the closing.


Example:
Dear Sir:
BODY OF LETTER
Yours truly,

[lilyputian67]

Can you quote the example in question?

hi daniel..i just wanted to know if in a business letter it is proper to use the comma after the salutation/greeting..example:

DearMr. Santos,

[lilyputian67]

According to the OWL (Purdue writing lab), a colon, not a comma should be used after "Dear Sir"



Example:
Dear Sir:
BODY OF LETTER
Yours truly,

Thanks for replying. How do you differentiate a business letter from a personal letter then? It confuses me because we are being reprimanded for using the colon in our office correspondences.

[DeeDukehart]

When you e-mail your cubical, long-revered office mates, friends, and family you can use a comma. When you e-mail a client, prospect, C-level personnel, use a colon.

Office mate:
Hey Judy,; Mike,; no name just the body of the e-mail

Client, et al:
Dear Fred: Dear Ms. Collins: etc.

[Maeve]

It seems to me that email, even for business purposes, presents a new playing field.

Even in business transactions, Americans lean towards the informal. (For example, it drives me wild when telemarketers who have gotten my name from a list greet me with "Hello, Margaret!) Not only is that not a name I go by, I feel that first names are not for strangers.)

With email, I think that once a business contact has been made, there's nothing wrong with the less formal commal.

Here is a site (Colorado State University) that offers some useful suggestions for the formatting of business email: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/business_writing/business_email/format.cfm

[Cecily]

I suggest you look at the business letters you receive to see what is most common.

In England, "open" punctuation is now the norm, i.e. no comma at the end of each line of the address, or the salutation or sign-off.

I think the more important issue is to decided which style you think appropriate and then use it consistently in all communication with that person or organisation.