Abusing the use of letter salutations.

Miscellaneous Topics
#1

I have been using “To whom it may concern,” so frequently to the same recipient, I feel like I’m abusing it.

You know that in business and formal letters and emails, letter salutations are very important when addressing someone you are inquiring to. Upon checking for more info about this, I see there are plenty of other salutations I can use, like “Dear” or “Dear Sir or Madam”, or even a simple “Hi”.

But for my problems I’d like to inquiry, I want anyone to help solve my issues. In that case, should I continue to use the “To whom it may concern” salutation?

#2

Maybe “Sir” or “Sear” is enough. A native speaker would give you a better answer than me.

#3

It depends on who the recipient is to you/your organization and the tone of the letter.

If it’s a general “I’m sending this out as information to several different people” then the “To whom it may concern” is certainly fine.

If it’s a more guided/specific thing like “I’m sending this to inform you about something” then the ‘Dear X’ or just ‘X’ would probably be better.

If it’s somewhat informal then ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ would probably work as well.

#4

Like everything in language, this is entirely contextual. It depends on who you’re sending it to, why you’re sending it, etc. Are we talking email or written letters here? Are you writing to a person, to a company, or posting in a public forum? This question is pretty much impossible to answer without more information.

If you’ve sent them several messages (letters?) then I would assume you’ve grown more familiar with the person, and you can switch to something less formal. In fact, continuing to use such a formal (and impersonal) greeting might be a little rude, or at least strange.

But like I said this is all conjecture without more specific information.