Depending on the company, you could consider using hello instead of dear. In all likelihood, these days you’re more likely to be sending an email rather than a letter, even for a job application. During the 1600s, people began using it in formal correspondence and not just letters addressed to the beloved. One of the first written examples of its use can be found in 1450 in a note from Queen Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI.
It is derived from the Old English d?ore. For example, if you don’t know have any details about who would be your boss in an application letter, you might consider addressing the entire team ( marketing department, sales team, accounting and finance, etc.) or the recruiting manager.Īs a word meaning “beloved,” dear dates back to the year 900. If you don’t know a recipient’s name, you can use a combination of dear and a department or team, or one person’s specific title.
#To whom it may concern capitalized or not full
So, what are the alternatives? Dearĭear, followed by the recipient’s full name, is another standard greeting for formal letters. It shows a lack of effort on behalf of the applicant.īetween the company’s website and all the social networking platforms available, it shouldn’t be hard to track down the name of the person or department that you need. We are living in the age of information, and generally job-hunting experts do not recommend using To Whom It May Concern if you’re addressing a single person. So it is correct to say to whom it may concern because it concerns her, not she. Her husband, whom she wrote to every day, missed her terribly.See if you can replace it in your sentence (with a little jiggling) with her or him. To check, see if the sentence still makes sense when you replace who with he or she (you might need to reword it slightly). This means that if someone is performing actions in a sentence, who is the correct choice. Who is used as the subject of a sentence, while whom is used as the object in a sentence. We’ve all come across pedants who love to correct people when they use who and whom. In case you’re wondering, if you’re writing an open letter of reference for someone (and it will be distributed to multiple interviewers), you would use To Whom It May Concern.
I wholeheartedly recommend Jo March, who has been working as a paralegal at our company, for employment. Since it’s a formal greeting, it should be followed by a colon in a letter. The correct way to use To Whom It May ConcernĮach word in the phrase To Whom It May Concern should be capitalized. There are examples in letters from this period by both Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. It is thought To Whom It May Concern entered common usage in the late 1800s.
It can also be found as the salutation at the start of open letters, or a letter meant to be read by a wide variety of people. To Whom It May Concern is used in formal letters, when the name of the person you are addressing is not known. But are you using this phrase correctly? It sounds so outdated-is it still in use? And are there any alternatives? Where does the phrase come from? One classic choice (as we no doubt know) is To Whom It May Concern. We know you’re tensing up just thinking about it. Is it someone we know well ( Mom will do just fine for you-know-who)? Is it someone we know professionally? Or-cue the horror music!-is it some unidentified person who’ll be reviewing our application, request, or materials? And yet, every time we start to write a letter, we’re faced with a tricky question at the very start-how do we address the recipient? It’s frustrating to hit a stumbling block right at the beginning.