Language: Which is acceptable, and which is not?

Why @Why

May 2021 4 0 Report

Language: Which is acceptable, and which is not?

When starting to write a formal business email, which are acceptable?

1. To Paul Johnson

2. Mr. Paul Johnson

3. Dear Paul Johnson

4. Dear Mr. Paul Johnson

5. To Paul

6. Mr. Paul

7. Mr. John

8. Dear Paul

9. Dear john

10. Der Mr. Paul

11. Dear Mr. John

Suppose that Paul Johnson is a person working at your customer company.

Which is acceptable?

Society & Culture / Languages

Laurence

In the address the name should appear as Mr. Paul Johnson.

In the salutation, it depends on how "friendly" you wish to appear, and on what you known of Paul Johnson's feelings in the matter.

I personally would expect a British company to start "Dear Sir," or possibly "Dear Paul Johnson", but a North American company to opt always for "Dear Paul Johnson"

If we already knew each other, then I would expect "Dear Paul" in both cases.

I do however object to anyone who does not know me using my first name and my preference (but not, alas, my expectation) would be "Dear Mr. Johnson."

Sixty years ago when I was still a young man, I would have expected "P. Johnson, Esq." in the address and "Dear Sir" in the salutation, but such old world courtesy has disappeared long ago!

Numbers 1 and 2 are only for the address,

Numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 are wrong.

Numbers 3 is the normal salutation

Number 8 is a familair salutation.

Most people begin an e-mail with no salutation at all, except possibly, "HI!",

Lee

Business emails should always be professional so always remember to include the person's surname. I would use your option No. 2 in the "address" or "To:" section but without the fullstop after Mr (.) and in the body of the email I would say : Dear Mr Johnson, .... Also, as a rule of thumb - although you didn't query it, emails are ended off with either Kind Regards (or similar) whereas letters are ended with Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully. I hope this helps you.