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The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2010-12-20 14:54:12 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO] General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Home page of the site
English term or phrase:Dear, (Somethign Somewhat)!
That is the typical beginning of the letter. Do we need the , sign here?
Seems nobody can do anything right nowadays! I personally hate Ms but I am perfectly happy to have people address me as Ms Wilson first time. After that it's Mrs Wilson or, much more likely, Sheila. Why kick people for trying to be correct? But this is getting a long way from the Asker's question!
It is interesting that Mr. Swift find "Ms" reasonably safe. I never use it, only because on many occasions women themselves hate that pseudo-word. When my wife, for instance, is considering CV's of job applicants, any cover letters addressed to "Ms. Lambert" are rejected immediately. Of course this is all by the way. ;)
'Ms' is reasonably safe but 'Mrs' is dynamite. Sorry to be persistent, but the full name has become standard UK usage in formal communication where marital status is unknown.
I don't believe we use a colon at all, always the comma. @ Andrew: No problem - if you don't know her preference you default to Ms to be politically correct, but if you hate politically correct you can default to Mrs
Dear blank, (comma) is used for a personal letter, between friends. Dear blank: (colon) is used for a business letter, whether you address the person formally (Dear Mr. Blank:) or informally (Dear Joe:).
Unless it's a US/UK difference, there shouldn't be one of those - it makes it sound really impolite to me, as though you're shouting at them. Personally, I'm not happy with first + last name - I was taught title + last name i.e. "Dear Mr Lambert, ..." or "Dear Paul, ..."
Jack, the somewhat or something are not the terms, that was to hide the name and the surname. I have launched this question just to show my client that the translation is wrong, thus, to have an objective opinion of the natives. Thanks a lot.
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Answers
28 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
No
Explanation: Dear Someone You wouldn't often wish to address something as dear Something, and I don't see how Somewhat fits in here at all.
Jack Doughty United Kingdom Local time: 09:30 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 370