Informal (personal letters) These salutations should be used with people you are close to, as they might offend
others.
Hello guys, Use when writing to a group of people you know very well.
Hi, Use when writing to one or more people you know very well.
There should be a comma after the salutation and a colon after “To Whom It May
Concern”.
No full stop is needed after Mr, Ms, and Dr.
The form Mrs is outdated.
Avoid the exclamation (!) in salutations.
STARTING YOUR LETTER There are two ways in which business letters usually start: they make reference to a
previous contact, for example, phone conversation, meeting, previous mail correspon-
dence; or they are the first contact with the recipient.
Making reference to previous contact I am (we are writing) regarding
your inquiry about …
our phone conversation … In reply to your request … Thank you for contacting us.
