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When is it appropriate to use the terms Dear Sir or Madam and To whom it may concern?The rules I was taught state that Dear Sir or Madam should be used when you're writing a letter to a person about something that person has direct involvement in (e.g. returning a defective product to a customer service department).
Dear Sir or Madam is the customary ordering, which is reason enough to do it in a formal setting. But also consider the "rhythm" of the opening; sir has half the syllables as madam, and therefore it sounds better when sir is uttered first. Same thing with Ladies and Gentlemen, where ladies has less syllables than gentlemen.
If the letter begins with Dear Sir, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam, or Dear Sir/Madam, the COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE should be "Yours faithfully". If the letter begins with a personal name, e.g. Dear Mr James, Dear Mrs Robinson, or Dear Ms Jasmin, it should be "Yours sincerely". A letter to someone you know well may close with the more informal "Best wishes".
In formal writing, for example to someone whose name you do not know, use madam in both cases. For example: When addressing a letter to the holder of a particular position without knowing the name or gender of the addressee, it is common to write “Dear Sir or Madam,” (or in the United States, “Dear Sir or Madam:”.
The formal rule, at least in Britain, is that if you're writing a letter to a person whose name you don't know, you start with "Dear Sir or Madam", and you end with "Yours faithfully". If you do know the name, you start with "Dear Mr X", and end with "Yours sincerely". However, as you note, "Best [or kind] regards" is much more common these days.
"Sir or Madam is a respectful way to address the person when you don't know their gender - that is, when you don't know whether the person who will read the e-mail is male or female. Though it is still acceptable to write Dear Sirs in the UK, this salutation is no longer considered politically correct in the US, as it excludes women.
The proper way to begin a formal letter to someone whose gender is unknown is with the "Dear Sir/Madam," phrase while At the end the letter use the phrase "Yours faithfully," plus your full name, like the template that follows: Dear Sir/Madam, .... Yours faithfully, Your full name. Might offend someone going through a sex change.
2. I was born in the 1960s, and learned to do this by writing "Dear Sir or Madam" (or you can use "Dear Madam or Sir" if you prefer to be more gender-sensitive). I understand that some now find this style to be offputting, although I personally do not find it to be. I find "Sir or Madam" to be no more offputting than "Dear" is as a greeting to ...
Mar 2, 2006. #3. TrentinaNE is correct. "Dear Sir or Madam" is the correct way to address a letter to one unknown person, such as the director of the personnel department. When addressing an entire company or an entire department of a company it gets a little trickier. If you know for certain that everyone in the group is male, use "Dear Sirs."
Dear Sir (or Madam), Here, I prefer to use the convention that Sir is neuter. And lastly, if an email is really to a single individual, but with a few more individuals copied in (such as a question to an individual developer, but where I want the email trail to be visible to the group), then I would use