DailyWritingTips

How to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children… and Your CEO

background image 371

Sonia asked us for tips on writing effective office emails, especially when addressing medical doctors, CEOs, your elders (those older than you), and your “juniors” (those younger than you).

Should your salutation be, “Dear Bill,” “Dear Dr. Williams,” “Mr. Ramirez:” or “Hi Bob”? If you’re as old as me, you were never taught in school how to address email messages, because email hadn’t been invented yet. But you were taught something about etiquette and respect.

Still, customs and expectations change, and depending on the circumstance, any of those salutations might be correct. Here are some general principles (with an American slant) for salutations in letters or emails, following on our article How to Format a US Business Letter.

Honor your addressees. In a day of spam and junk mail, it’s a privilege for someone else to be willing to read your correspondence. You need to believe that. Don’t be proud or lazy when you write a letter or email. Choose a salutation that will make your recipient feel honored. If you are writing to a superior or an elder, you would generally begin your email with “Dear Mr. Jones” or “Mr. Jones,”. Email is inherently less formal than a paper letter, so “Mr. Jones:” (with a colon) is less common.

Match the formality of your addressees. If you’re replying to an email from one of your peers (someone who isn’t a person of authority), you can often take your cue from how the sender addressed you. Since publicists often greet me in emails with, “Hi Michael,” I always reply to them with, “Hi Vijay” or “Hi Amanda.”

Don’t make your addressees feel old. My parents, who were raised in the Old South (USA), taught me to address older people as “Sir” and “Ma’am,” to use “Mr.” or “Mrs.” and to never call older people by their first names. So what does that mean? That when you call me “Sir,” you probably think I’m old!Of course, Americans are less formal than other nationalities. In many other cultures, age is rightfully respected, and it’s an honor to be treated as older. But American peers (people of your own age or position) might consider “Mr.” or “Mrs.” overly formal.

Children enjoy feeling older. As a child, I was tickled to receive letters from my grandmother (born before 1900) addressed to “Master Michael Moser.” But usually, you address those younger than yourself by their first name.

Pay attention to the email signature. It will include titles that your recipient wants you to note. If his email signature, at the end of his message, says, “Richard McManus, MD,” it means he’s reminding you that he’s a medical doctor, so make sure you call him, “Dr. Manus.” If it says, “Brig. Gen. Robert Watson USAF (Ret.),” call him, “General Watson.” People spend years of hard work earning such titles, and don’t cast them off lightly. Abbreviations for other doctorates include PhD and LLD – call them all “Dr.” The initials DD mean “Doctor of Divinity” and you sometimes address their bearers as “Rev.” (short for Reverend) instead of “Dr” (short for Doctor). Other military abbreviations include “Col.” (“Colonel”), “Maj.” (“Major”), and “Lt.” (“Lieutenant”).

Treat them dearly, if you think they would appreciate it. I was taught in school to begin all letters with “Dear”. That’s especially appropriate if you want to communicate warmth or affection. For some business emails, such as those to strangers or adversaries, the salutation “Dear” is not credible. They know that you don’t feel affection for them, and they don’t feel affection for you. On the other hand, calling someone “Dear” can help build warmth and affection, and sometimes can help defuse an angry exchange.

Stop making those embarrassing mistakes! Subscribe to Daily Writing Tips today!

You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed!

Each newsletter contains a writing tip, word of the day, and exercise!

You'll also get three bonus ebooks completely free!

6 thoughts on “How to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children… and Your CEO”

  1. hi ,

    i just want to have very proffesional and highly reputed adjectives used to describe natures beauty. and some effective punch lines which describe our company’s status and relationship with the second party. and some more buisness related adjectives described with their meaning.

    thanks

  2. Jyoti, you’re asking for good things, but they don’t exist apart from your own company’s situation. That is, the adjectives you’d use for a mountain’s beauty would not be appropriate for a river’s beauty. A punchline or tagline that communicates why a plumbing company is unique would not express why a dressmaker is unique – and if you tried to use the same description for both, you would probably end up with something so vague that it would be boring and powerless. If you could use the same words to describe something else, you’re probably not describing it at all. Besides, when you say, ‘business-related,’ aren’t you really saying, ‘unoriginal’? Do you really want to use the same words all the other businesses use? Then customers won’t see any good reason to buy from you instead of another business.

  3. Dear Admin,

    I’m newby in this site.
    i really antusiastic !!!
    this site makes me confidence to learn english more.
    Please give me a test weekly,so that i can learn english more n more.

    thanks

  4. I was wondering how you address non-doctor medical professionals in talking or writing/email (i.e., do not have an M.D. or PhD, but have another medical-related degree)? For example, a physical therapist, with a P.T., or a nurse practitioner, who–as in my case–serves as a primary care physician. Thank you.

  5. It is for very good to speak! I am loving the use of website on world wide web and internet system!

    Thanking you always

    Slati

Leave a Comment