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formality of email endings


Jea

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I usually use/see these ones. I classified from the most formal to the most informal, in my opinion. But is that right? I have a problem when I try to be more friendly with someone I'm formal with (like a teacher I have a squish on XD), I'm always unsure what to use.

+ formal

Regards

Best regards

Best

Kind regards

Best wishes

Very best wishes

All the best

Cheers

- formal

What do you think?

As a non native speaker, I don't feel those difference, so I need you guys' imput :)

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What email ending is appropriate always confused me too. Usually I'll just end emails with a dash and then my name, but I don't think that's very formal either.

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I tend to be formal. My emails look more like short letters than anything else. My default ending is "Sincerely" then my first and last name. First name only if I know the person well or have been communicating with them for a while. With professors and older folk in a profesional setting, I can't get into the habit of just signing my name without something at the end. It feels unnatural to me, and I always want to show them the respect that their position deserves. When I'm communicating with someone who prefers informal communication (like my professor that insists on me calling her by her first name), I still can't shake the habit, but they have not commented on it as of yet. I always go with what feels right, and it feels right to be formal in most situations. The only exception is if it's a classmate or someone at the same level as me, profession and educationwise.

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I'm a person too!

People I have to talk to get "Cheers", people I actually care about get "Best".

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I envy you native English speakers. "Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'assurance de ma considération distinguée" :D

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I envy you native English speakers. "Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'assurance de ma considération distinguée" :D

I KNOW RIGHT

I'm French and I always hated those, like what even? They're so full of hypocrisy. I never use them, I use 'cordialement' most of the time.

People I have to talk to get "Cheers", people I actually care about get "Best".

That's interesting because I feel like 'best' is more what you write when you don't know what else to write xD Cheers sounds more informal to my ears.

That's why I ended up asking here xD

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No need to yell at me, I was just saying that I wish French (which is also my native language) were as easy as English in that regard. But if I don't even have the right to say it, I'll leave this topic.

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blossombreeze

Your list isn't bad, though I hardly ever use those words. The general rule as i've learned it is that "sincerely" is the most appropriate for both professional and personal emails. I usually will end an email to my teacher with something like this:

"I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

________"

If I know a teacher really well, I may replace 'sincerely' with 'Much love', 'Many blessings', maybe 'Warmest regards' but thats really not a normal thing for me. If the teacher is helping me out in any way, i will also replace 'sincerely' with 'Thank you'.

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J. van Deijck

What's the thing with yours faithfully/yours sincerely?

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Awkward JoJoeh

Sincerely,

With warm regards,

Much appreciation,

Much appreciated,

Thanks,

Thank you,

[just your name]

Thank you kindly,

Formally,

I look forward to your reply,

Looking forward to your reply,

I can't think of any that haven't already been said! >.<

In the case of a teacher, I'd probably end the message with, "Thank You" or "Thanks" though the latter is less formal/professional. Even, "Much appreciated" could work. Depending on how many times you've emailed this person in the past, ending the message with just your full name in Italic could also work.

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No need to yell at me, I was just saying that I wish French (which is also my native language) were as easy as English in that regard. But if I don't even have the right to say it, I'll leave this topic.

...I was joking? 'I know, right' means I agree with you. The caps are because I'm enthuiastic. Why do you get offended by a bit of enthusiasm, especially if i agree with you?

I prefer my German endings. :(

The German ones are actually the most easy to use in my opinion, they're so awesome :3 I use 'Liebe Grüße' most of the time (alternating with 'viele Grüße' or 'alles Liebe').

'Mit freundlichen Grüßen' if it's a teacher ^_^

Which do you use?

What's the thing with yours faithfully/yours sincerely?

They sound more formal, don't they?

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Thanks to all other suggestions, that's very helpful ^_^

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What's the thing with yours faithfully/yours sincerely?

Yours faithfully/yours sincerely sounds too much to me like a 1800s love letter xDDD. Do you actually see this in your correspondence (and you're wondering why)? If so, that is very interesting. I don't think I've come across those phrases yet (just Sincerely, no yours attatched to it). Or do you wonder why this exists?

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I really believed that you were angry and offended (caps lock and all). I apologize.

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J. van Deijck

What's the thing with yours faithfully/yours sincerely?

Yours faithfully/yours sincerely sounds too much to me like a 1800s love letter xDDD. Do you actually see this in your correspondence (and you're wondering why)? If so, that is very interesting. I don't think I've come across those phrases yet (just Sincerely, no yours attatched to it). Or do you wonder why this exists?

Rather that last one :D but I've been studying English language at the university, and this is what they used to teach us: in the most formal letters, you use one of these two, depending if you write to the certain person by name, or just in general.

And I really wonder why :o

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I tend towards formality by default. If I have not ever met the person I am writing to, or if they are in a sufficiently high position that it seems appropriate, I will combine 'sincerely' with my first and last name. The next step is to drop the last name. From there, I consider 'regards' to be an intermediate ending, 'best/all the best' the next step up (although I will usually only use that one if somebody has already used it with me), and if I actually do know the person I'm speaking with I just go with -*firstname*. Every now and again I'll use 'cheers' in a situation where I don't feel I know the person well enough to just sign my name, yet I know them well enough that 'regards' would be seen as oddly formal. If I am requesting something of somebody, or if they have already agreed to something I have requested, I'll use 'thank you' or possibly 'thanks' ('thanks' being less formal, obviously).

I also often begin e-mails with 'greetings' or some such, progressing to 'hello', then 'hi', and then finally something more like 'hey' or 'yo' for family and close friends.

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On that note, how do you guys do greetings? (since we could extend this topic, and I'm genuinely curious).

I will usually do

Hello Mr./Ms./Dr. First Name Last Name (sometimes last name if it's with Dr.)

and then proceed to type up my message. Sometimes, I'll do Greetings instead.. it depends on the level the person is at compared to me.

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On that note, how do you guys do greetings? (since we could extend this topic, and I'm genuinely curious).

I will usually do

Hello Mr./Ms./Dr. First Name Last Name (sometimes last name if it's with Dr.)

and then proceed to type up my message. Sometimes, I'll do Greetings instead.. it depends on the level the person is at compared to me.

If it's someone I know, it's not uncommon for me to skip out on the greeting entirely and just start with my message. But if it's something formal, or an email to someone who doesn't know me then I'll usually write "Hello [name]," Whether I add a Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. and whether I use both a first and a last name depends on the person, and I'll usually address them in email by whatever I'd usually call them in real life.

With me usually not having a ending to my emails and often skipping the greetings, this thread is making me realize that I am very informal with my emailing sometimes. Perhaps that's something I should improve on more before I leave school and become a professional person.

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If it's informal, I tend to just shove my name at the bottom sans any closing line. In all other cases that require a formal ending (which is the vast majority) "kind regards" is my closing line of choice.

On a similar note, I'm a huge supporter of smileys in emails, even the formal ones. A little :) can go a long way, and helps to lighten the otherwise rather stiff atmosphere, imo.

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I really believed that you were angry and offended (caps lock and all). I apologize.

No problem, I was just fervently agreeing with you xD

Sorry, I'm a bit socially awkward.

Peace, dear :)

On that note, how do you guys do greetings? (since we could extend this topic, and I'm genuinely curious).

I will usually do

Hello Mr./Ms./Dr. First Name Last Name (sometimes last name if it's with Dr.)

and then proceed to type up my message. Sometimes, I'll do Greetings instead.. it depends on the level the person is at compared to me.

I go with Dear Mr. +last name or Dear +first name. The dear word is a bit confusing to me, since it's an endearment that is usually very familiar. But it's used regularly in letters, and my teachers address me that way in emails, so I answer the same way ^_^

If I want to be less formal I put just "hello", or even less formal "hi", those without the person's name.

With me usually not having a ending to my emails and often skipping the greetings, this thread is making me realize that I am very informal with my emailing sometimes. Perhaps that's something I should improve on more before I leave school and become a professional person.

Depends who you're writing to. When I post on the internet, I usually skip those too, although sometimes I start with a short 'hey'. For actually emailing, people tend to see it as rude if you do that... I do skip them if there is a conversation with several emails in the day, then I just write the content.

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Those answers are really clearing my thoughts.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with greetings and endings :p

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As far as endings go, I'm really basic. I stick with "Thanks," "Thank you," and "Sincerely." Or, sometimes like Delta said further above, I'll just use a dash and then follow it with my name.

On that note, how do you guys do greetings? (since we could extend this topic, and I'm genuinely curious).

I will usually do

Hello Mr./Ms./Dr. First Name Last Name (sometimes last name if it's with Dr.)

and then proceed to type up my message. Sometimes, I'll do Greetings instead.. it depends on the level the person is at compared to me.

If it's someone I know, it's not uncommon for me to skip out on the greeting entirely and just start with my message. But if it's something formal, or an email to someone who doesn't know me then I'll usually write "Hello [name]," Whether I add a Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. and whether I use both a first and a last name depends on the person, and I'll usually address them in email by whatever I'd usually call them in real life.

With me usually not having a ending to my emails and often skipping the greetings, this thread is making me realize that I am very informal with my emailing sometimes. Perhaps that's something I should improve on more before I leave school and become a professional person.

I'm pretty much the same. If I know them, I'll usually skip the greeting entirely, or just start with something like "Hey" to get the conversation going. If it is formal, I usually start with just their name, like this: "Mr. Johnson," and then jump down and start my actual e-mail/letter. If it's formal, but not that formal--like with a coworker, or a parent that I have been e-mailing back and forth with, or someone similar--I'll usually just start with their first name (i.e. "Greg,").

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I usually use/see these ones. I classified from the most formal to the most informal, in my opinion. But is that right? I have a problem when I try to be more friendly with someone I'm formal with (like a teacher I have a squish on XD), I'm always unsure what to use.

+ formal

Regards

Best regards

Best

Kind regards

Best wishes

Very best wishes

All the best

Cheers

- formal

What do you think?

As a non native speaker, I don't feel those difference, so I need you guys' imput :)

As others have said, and from my personal experience, "Sincerely" and "Regards" work best across the board. However, in a professional setting, when I've become on friendlier terms with a client or a business partner, I'll end my emails with "Thanks." The punctuation at the end will differ depending on how familiar I am with the person. Not sure as to why. "Cheers" and "Best" to me would be on the same informal level as "Thanks." Also, if a holiday is approaching, I will generally use the phrase "Have a happy/merry __________" with people that I know I can be informal with. Otherwise, the list is pretty well organized. This is coming from working in the American legal field though, so it may be different in other fields.

I prefer my German endings. :(

I really like German endings too, although I can't separate from the idea that they're all just a tad to informal... which is weird seeing as you can generally tell in German whether someone's being formal or not.

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I prefer my German endings. :(

I really like German endings too, although I can't separate from the idea that they're all just a tad to informal... which is weird seeing as you can generally tell in German whether someone's being formal or not.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Hochachtungsvoll

I don't see how either of these would be informal.

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Personally I tend to use " thanks " if asking for something, or "yours sincerely " if it's a formal reply to something.

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These have been giving me soooo much headache in English! I tend to go with "Thank you and kind regards," + full name usually, or if the person is pissing me off then just "regards".

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I don't tend to send social emails anymore. At work if I'm emailing colleagues or people from other teams I always put 'Regards', plus my workplace's standard corporate signature with my name, job title, address, telephone number and the like (because we have to add that). If I'm emailing people outside of the workplace, I always put 'Yours sincerely' or 'Yours faithfully' depending on whether I know their name or not (you only put 'Yours sincerely' if you know their name, and put 'Yours faithfully' if you don't. At least I remembered something from Basic Word Processing.)

When I did used to send social emails to friends, it was always just 'See ya!'

If you're emailing teachers, etc., it would be best to go with 'regards' or something like that.

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I prefer my German endings. :(

I really like German endings too, although I can't separate from the idea that they're all just a tad to informal... which is weird seeing as you can generally tell in German whether someone's being formal or not.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Hochachtungsvoll

I don't see how either of these would be informal.

I've never seen Hochachtungsvoll before, but yeah, that one's definitely formal. Mit freundlichen Grüßen still seems less formal, mainly because of the "freundlichen" part of it. Maybe it would equate to English's "Sincerely yours," which is formal but sounds less formal than "Sincerely."

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These things are really tricky in English. My approach to keep it simple is the following (don't get confused if I use the word "letter" - an email is an electronic letter; companies complain a lot about employees fresh from the university who don't realise this) :

- Yours sincerely for letters to somebody whose name I don't know, i.e. those starting with Dear Sir/Madam

- Kind regards for letters to somebody whose name I know, but where the contact is strictly formal

- Best wishes is still sufficiently formal, but I use it for those people I've known for a while and had at least a talk about the weather with, if you know what I mean...

Cheers is really informal. Regards is something better to avoid unless you know somebody really well and send them a brief message ("Hi John, just wanted to send you this plot of my latest results. Regards, David" - actually skipping the "Regards" wouldn't make much difference here, that's the point).

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I prefer my German endings. :(

I really like German endings too, although I can't separate from the idea that they're all just a tad to informal... which is weird seeing as you can generally tell in German whether someone's being formal or not.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Hochachtungsvoll

I don't see how either of these would be informal.

I've never seen Hochachtungsvoll before, but yeah, that one's definitely formal. Mit freundlichen Grüßen still seems less formal, mainly because of the "freundlichen" part of it. Maybe it would equate to English's "Sincerely yours," which is formal but sounds less formal than "Sincerely."

Mit freundlichen Grüßen is neutral, really. If you want to make it sound formal, start the letter with Sehr geehrte/r Herr/Frau ..., if you want to make it sound informal, use Liebe/r (Herr/Frau) ... instead. I would never ever use Hochachtungsvoll, because at least if they know me a bit they would assume I'm taking the piss.

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