Sincerely or faithfully in this scenario?

Participant · 7 Jun 2011 at 17:54

Hi all

My wife is writing a letter that begins 'Dear Parents' and has ended it 'Yours sincerely'. She asked me to check the letter and I pointed this out as a mistake, thinking that it should be 'Yours faithfully' since the recipient is not addressed by name.

My wife disagreed so we checked Wikipedia, which is slightly ambiguous in that it doesn't explicitly refer to the scenario where you know the recipients' names, but have not referred to them in the opening of the letter.

Which would you put, sincerely or faithfully?

Thanks!

fizzle-187 · 7 Jun 2011 at 17:57

Yours Faithfully.

Sudden · 7 Jun 2011 at 17:58

Faithfully. I doubt there's a differentiation between not using them and not knowing them.

Cosimo · 7 Jun 2011 at 17:58

Yours faithfully.

TheCenturion · 7 Jun 2011 at 17:59

Faithfully when you don't know their name.

Faithfully begins with F, F stands for 'forgot'

Greenlizard0 · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:00

'Yours Faithfully'.

Posty · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:01

I have been writing cover letters for my CV and the advice I read is that if you know the name of the person you sent the letter to then you put sincerely.

If you just put Dear Sir or Madam then put faithfully.

RDM · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:02

Is she writing to her parents, or the parents of a class or somesuch? If it was her parents then Sincerely would be fine (though a bit formal!) however if it is to the parents of a class then faithfully would be the correct usage I believe.

Rich_L · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:03

Yours in perpetual awesomeness is my favoured sign off

ashrobbo · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:03

Faithfully.

nydryl · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:04

If I knew them, but didn't use their names, I'd still use sincerely as both myself and the recipient would be aware that we know each other. If it's the case that she knows them by name but doesn't really know them I'd use faithfully.

Freakbro · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:04

Either seems a little formal when writing a letter to your parents?

Unless ofc this is a formal letter for reasons I really dont want to know

If its not that formal, you could finish it with Kind Regards or similar.

w3bbo · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:04

'Kind regards' always works as a third option if you can't remember which of the former to use

.

Participant · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:18

She knows them all by name as they are parents of the kids in her class. The letter is providing details of a school concert.

RDM · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:21

Robbie G said:
She knows them all by name as they are parents of the kids in her class. The letter is providing details of a school concert.

I would go with faithfully as she is not directing the letter at them individually

stoofa · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:22

I was always taught to use sincerely only when addressing to a "named person".
So in your situation I'd use either yours faithfully or regards.

23JMZ07 · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:24

Yours faithfully

I also like "Kind Regards"

Jono · 7 Jun 2011 at 18:31

"Your friend in time, Doc, Emmett L Brown. September 1st, 1885"

But it's already been answered - like most I'd go with "Yours Faithfully".

Efour · 7 Jun 2011 at 19:12

if someone ended a letter with kind regards id laugh... who made that crap up lol

Lightnix · 7 Jun 2011 at 19:23

Sign it 'hugs and kisses'