Dear Wilfried, and all others interested in better English usage:
When writing letters, or even a casual note to someone, address that person by name. This is the correct and courteous way to do things. If you don't open with what is technically called a "salutation," and you don't end with what is technically called a "complimentary ending," your note can seem abrupt and bossy to
the recipient. Of course if it's a quick note to a wife requesting her to buysomething from the store while she's out a husband here would probably write it
something like this: "Rose, don't forget to get some noodles on your way home
. Love you!." You see, I'm sure, how much sweeter that is than "Don't forget to get some noodles."
Use of the word "Dear" in a salutaation doesn't mean anything any more. It is simply a formal standard approach that is polite, and not abrupt. Even when you write to someone you don't know, whom you will never meet, and from whom you don't expect a reply, please use a courteous form, or address them by their occupation or title like this when you don't know their name: "Dear Sanitary Engineer....(body of the note.) Complimentary ending, "Thanks a lot!" (signed) Householder 2324B." A "Sanitary Engineer" is the name for a person who, with truck and
helper, collects household bagged trash from near the road where householders place it for weekly pick-up.
For letters to people who have positions such a Senator, or Prime Minister and so on, there are sources from which to obtain the correct form of honorary address. It's best to look them up and use the proper type of formal address, formal
salutation and formal complimentary ending for their particular station.
Much learning on this forum is expected to take place by example and practise.
You are meant to observe and learn from a post like this one. It has been carefully written to display a number of things. If you look carefully, you will see
that they are correct, standard English methods. For instance, paragraph spacing, quotation marks and parentheses, capital letters and other usual punctuation.
You will note that the final punctuation mark is placed before the final quotation mark. You are also expected to pick up the rhythms of the English languagehere through reading posts written by those who know and understand the language pretty thoroughly.
A "complimentary ending" is also an important part of a letter or note. This ending has words like the very formal "Yours very truly" or "Yours truly" which isslightly less formal, or "Yours Sincerely" which is slightly less formal again.
None of these endings literally mean much. These are all formal endings. If
you are angry you can still use these endings to good effect, especially "Yours
very truly," on business letters. They are simply a courteous formality. In the case of the very formal ending, it can convey some of the coldness of your anger and your removal from the person.
For a friendly letter you might use something more meaningful such as "Best wishes," or if you really care it might say "With all my love" or "I can hardly waitto see you again" or "warmly" and so on. But even in such little things as quick notes it's a good thing to say something like "Bye now" or "See you later,"
before your signature.
In a formal business letter the signature and the rest that follows after "Yours
truly" can appear like this:
*********
Yours truly,
John P. DoeVice President, Sales
JPD/mk
encl. 2
cc J. Chan
P. Oblonski
*********
Under the full signature the title of the writer is given on the very next line.
Under that, 2 spaces down appear the initials of the one who dictated the letter. (After all, it might have been dictated on his behalf by an executive assistant.) The smaller case initials are those of the secretary who actually key-boarded the letter and prepared the total mail-out with enclosures and copies as shown. "encl. 2" means there were two additional papers attached. The names of these two papers may be specified in some cases. The cc with names beside
it means that these two people are being copied in (sent copies of this correspondence,) so that they have complete knowledge of what is being discussed.
Due to computers and the desire to save time and money many executives are encouraged now to compose, ready for mailing, their own posts. In that case the only
thing that would change would be that the "JPD/mk" wouldn't be there since he wrote it himself. The rest of the information would be included. This allows anyone who may need to pick up the project and understand everything about it and
what has been supplied to be able to know.
*********
Many of you have fairly competent English but you don't yet understand that English and Chinese are apparently very different in their requirements. These things that may seem like little picky points to many, and not worth learning. They
seem small because apparently you don't need many of them in Chinese. They are
still very important to English presentation and must be mastered. As soon as
you are able to compose understandable English is the time to present your work
properly so that it will be respected and received well. When your English is understandable, for instance, for instance, of the level of Helen's, then the next thing to do is to present yourself properly. If you don't, then your
grammatical errors will appear much worse than they are. If you present your message courteously, as described, it will not matter so much how perfect your English grammar is, unless it prevents understanding. People know you are Chinese
or German or Russian and they will easily overlook some accent or some grammatical errors in your English. You can polishs those away bit by bit asyou continue to progress.
Don't misunderstand me. Grammar is important. Most of you are learning it in school. We don't usually offer advice to people unless it is requested on their
post and we have the time. We are all volunteers. A big reason for not commenting directly about specific posts is because we don't want to discourage anyone,
or to assume that they necessarily want our advice. One of our prime motives is encouragement. It is always well to encourage each other. If you offer advice, be sure to offer it in a gentle, buffered way.
Warmly and with affection, Mary (A native English speaker
writing from her birth country
of Canada.)
