What are some expressions that can be used to end an email?

What are some expressions that can be used to end an email?

  • At the end of every email, we use ending expressions like Best regards, Kind regards, Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, What other expressions can be added to this list? Which ones should we use/not use in which cases?

  • Answer:

    Putting formal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutation_%28greeting%29 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complimentary_close into an e-mail tends to make them very formal compared to most e-mails. In my experience working in the software industry, people who always put them into ordinary business e-mails come off as unnecessarily formal. Often foreigners have been taught in English class to do this, and the result is that I have been in meetings where foreign colleagues were ridiculed for e-mails constructed to a ceremonious level of formality. I've just looked through my most recently sent business e-mails and the only complimentary close I ever use is "thanks", in about a quarter of my e-mails—mostly ones where I've asked the recipient to do something. The rest of them just end with a dash and my name. Looking through my received business e-mails, I see the same. Most e-mails have no complimentary close, and of the ones that do, nearly all of them have "thanks" or similar ("many thanks", "thank you", "thanks all", etc.). I got one "regards" in the last week as well (out of about 250 messages). Your experience may vary, I suppose, depending on the culture of the company you work for. A colleague of mine uses an e-mail template that begins every e-mail with "Heyas," and closes with "Humbly". He is a quirky fellow. My personal recommendation (at least when corresponding via e-mail for business with Americans) is to err on the side of no complimentary close, or a very informal one. Using a formal complimentary close marks an e-mail as extremely serious and if used on an e-mail that is not extremely serious will make it seem out of place or even funny.

Mehper C. Palavuzlar at English Language and Usage Visit the source

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Other answers

For informal e-mails: Best, or Regards, or Cheers, For formal e-mails: Kind regards, or Respectfully, or Sincerely,

Paul Lammertsma

"Yours sincerely" and "Yours faithfully" now sound somewhat formal and I'd advise against them unless your email is otherwise official or formal in nature. "Best regards" (or just "Br") is, in my experience, extremely common in business emails, and a safe choice for many situations. "Best wishes," is also a common alternative that falls into this category. For informal situations or when messaging friends, I'd probably go with something lighter, such as: Cheers, or Take care, :-)

Jonik

Business Email/Letter Closings: Best Regards, Cordially, Good Wishes, Many Thanks, Most Sincerely, Regards, Sincerely, Thank You, With Confidence. Informal Email/Letter Closings: Adios, Blessings, Cheerio, Cheers, God Bless, Gotta Boogie, Grace and Peace, Have Fun, Health and Happiness, Keep the Faith, Later Vader, Later Alligator, Lots of Love, Onward and Upward, Over and Out, Peace, Love & Happiness, Peace & Blessings, Rock On, See ya, Smell ya Later, SMILE, TA TA, Toodles, Your Friend, Dream BIG.

Mehper C. Palavuzlar

I'll tend to use "Best regards," for anything even semi-formal, including correspondence with people in a business context whom I don't know very well. When I use to work at NEC, it was considered the way you must sign off your emails when dealing with any of the Tokyo managers or engineers, and so it kind of just stuck. For less formal, it'll be "Thanks" if appropriate, "Take care," or occasionally "Peace and chocolate." Never ever put it in your email signature. A colleague of mine has "Regards," in his signature and it grates every time I see it. It may save you some typing, but it comes off as disingenuous. You're better off with nothing if you can't be bothered.

Evan

As a contractor I tend to just use: Yours, I like to think it implies their 'ownership' of me for that time. The longer versions do feel too formal for e-mail, or too loaded with meaning. Otherwise I use the ever popular: Regards,

Jon Hadley

There seems to be a great uncertainty among business people on how to close - and address - emails. Looking at my emails, I have found that a lot of people simply have a template, which either has their name and position/contact details, or that preceded by "Regards"/"Kind Regards". I personally dislike "regards", because it is obvious that no-one ever means it, and I also find it hilarious when I get a strongly worded email from a superior demanding some sort of action, which then ends in "Best Regards". I have found that "cheers", is a very neutral ending, that is both informal and polite, and, in my experience, has been used a lot in business and informal contexts. Most of my close friends end their emails to me with "cheers", and at the moment, as I am interviewing for jobs, I have found that most recruiters end their emails to me with "cheers". (I am in New Zealand). One particular recruitment agent has been more creative than the others with her endings, and has used a different one with each correspondence. She has used Cheers, Best wishes, Take care, All the best, Good luck, I particularly like the last one in that list.

Vincent McNabb

It seems to me that emails were originally designed to be written in memo style (hence From, To, Subject, etc.), for which it is standard to have no closing expression. Of course, many emails are written more to resemble a letter, for which other conventions apply.

Peter Eisentraut

For our corporate emails, amongst different departments, we use the "neutral": Regards,

VonC

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, In the US military, we use Respectfully and Very Respectfully or even Hooah!. I use Respectfully when I am closing a formal letter to a peer. I also use Respectfully in any letter which might otherwise be considered informal, but in which I append my rank to my name, because the fact that I'm writing in my military capacity alone makes it formal in a sense, even if I'm just writing to inquire about some triviality. I use Very Respectfully when closing any letter to a superior; when I need to convey the utmost formality and respect in my closing. These are military writing conventions, so I can not invent some flowery superlative closing to sound poetic and transcendent, because I would only appear unprofessional for not following the convention. If I am writing an utterly casual letter in some military context, e.g., to inform my mother that I'm returning home in a week's time, I might say something corny like Hooah! Then again, this is really not important to mention; I would probably use Love, in that situation anyway. In Thelemic correspondence, the convention is to open with 93 and to close with 93 93/93 as in: 93, I will be attending the whatever-event on xxx date. 93, 93/93 Among my friends, I tend to use whatever closing comes to mind; I just pluck something out of my memory, like Hail Satan! or Praise Jesus! I sometimes open with a good old Latin Ave! or Salve. There are my two cents. Of course, a long time has passed since that expression was coined (pun intended), so I suppose what I've written here would be closer to "my 50 cents." Love is the Law, Love under Will

Gavin Emich

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