Comments on: “Yours faithfully” or “Yours sincerely”?

By: ty

ty — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:08:08 +0000

what about “I’m your most sincerely” ?

By: J Miles P

J Miles P — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:10:16 +0000

I use “Dear Jane” to someone I know and end with “Yours sincerely”, whether she is dear to me or not, to indicate that she may rely on the emotions I express.

I use “Dear Sir” to someone I do not know and end with “Yours faithfully”, where my faithfulness is to indicate that my words may be relied upon.

With emails, I end with “Regards”, as I want something that I can use every time to anyone as a mark of consistency and to avoid giving offence by reverting to “regards” having used used “warm regards” or similar on a prior occasion.

By: J Miles P

J Miles P — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:08:30 +0000

I use “Dear Jane” to someone I know and end with “Yours sincerely”, whether she is dear to me or not, to indicate that she may rely on the emotions I express.

I use “Dear Sir” to someone i do not know and end with “Yours faithfully”, where my faithfulness is to indicate that my words may be relied upon.

With emails, I end with “Regards”, as i want something that i can use every time to anyone as a mark of consistency and to avoid giving offence by reverting to “regards” having used used “warm regards” or similar on a proor occasion.

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:41:43 +0000

I use “Best regards” for email letters and “Sincerely” for cold call business-type letters. I’m with Al G. on letters to family and friends, you show your emotions, “Love” or “Love ya mucho.”

By: PreciseEdit

PreciseEdit — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:34:48 +0000

What would Fowler have made of “Yours very truly and sincerely”?

To me, this shows the arbitrary creation of some “rules” for writing, especially those that seem to have neither grammatical considerations nor agreement between the meaning of the words and the purpose for which they are used.

“I don’t know you. We’ve never met. This is an unsolicited letter trying to get your business. You will probably throw it in the trash. I don’t expect to hear back from you. In spite of this, truly, I am yours.”

I said this in another response somewhere, but the idea of telling someone I am his or hers, when I have never met that person, feels awkward to me.

My pick is still for “Sincerely.” I wouldn’t recommend that a client change the closing line he or she has selected, but I will continue to use “Sincerely” for my own professional correspondences.