Using “dear all”

I have observed that in my work place, whenever a mail is sent khổng lồ more than one person( like an information, meeting request or a notice etc.), the mail starts with the salutation "Dear All". This, somehow, doesn"t seem correct lớn me. For me, a salutation should address the reader individually, at least in its singular form, as in "Dear Colleagues".

Bạn đang xem: Using “dear all”

Am I correct in thinking that?

To me, Dear all conveys laziness. A well-thought-out message should have a specific audience that the message applies lớn. Dear coworkers, Dear minions, Dear Death-Eaters, Dear residents, etc. is not that much more difficult khổng lồ type. Then someone reading the message can more easily discern whether the message applies khổng lồ them or not.

Unless they are actually your colleagues (i.e. none of them are your bosses! or clients, or third-parties), I would stick with the neutral:

Dear All,

(quite common) or maybe:

Dear Everyone,

(less common)

I just checked by looking up the emails we (as a group) receive sầu from the hierarchy above:They all begin with "Dear All" (translated in French by "Bonjour à tous et à toutes", since the equivalent of "all" is not gender-neutral in French.)

Dear all is perfectably acceptable. So is Dear Colleagues. It depends on how formal or informal you want lớn be, & what is normal usage in your workplace. If in doubt, vị what appears lớn be normal practice.

I find that using a non-standard, but polite greeting in an email tends lớn be quite effective in getting people to actually read what you are writing. For instance, when writing to lớn a group of people, it is quite comtháng (in New Zealand) lớn write:

To whom it may concern,

or, as has been mentioned:

Dear All,

But I tkết thúc khổng lồ write something off carte lượt thích (assuming that I worked at British Telecom–which I don"t):

Dear BT Person,

I have sầu found that this unusual approach—which also feels less impersonal—can be more likely lớn garner an audience.

But where I currently work, we have sầu a tool to address everyone individually, we just leave sầu a placeholder where their name is, so it will say:Dear Mr. Smith, or Dear Kevin,Which I think is probably the best way to lớn get it done if it is convenient.

Share
Improve this answer
Follow
answered Aug 9 "10 at 0:49

Vincent McNabbVincent McNabb
8,82233 gold badges3838 silver badges3737 bronze badges
Add a bình luận |
2
Nowadays often only "All:" is used - not very nice but that"s the way it is.

Share
Improve this answer
Follow
answered Aug 8 "10 at 12:50
vonjdvonjd
3,48599 gold badges3737 silver badges4444 bronze badges
Add a bình luận |
2
Salutations are not for beauty; they are a tool to lớn alter reader"s mode of understanding, often to lớn make the message more convincing.

Xem thêm: Download Từ Điển Pháp Việt Lạc Việt Mtd 9 Full, Lạc Việt Mtd9 Eva

If you are suggesting something formal, talking from position of rights or power, you may want to use more formal "Dear Colleagues" khổng lồ make the argument stronger.

If you are making a proposal, & want lớn downplay it as in "hey, it"s an idea, a basis for further thinking & please judge it as such", a simple "All," would vị a better job.

In all cases, basic netiquette requires that meaningless text should be avoided when addressing a large group of people. It"s easier khổng lồ write than to lớn read, so one should invest in brevity.

Share
Improve sầu this answer
Follow
edited Aug 13 "10 at 7:06
answered Aug 12 "10 at 22:04
Pavel RadzivilovskyPavel Radzivilovsky
2,95533 gold badges1717 silver badges1818 bronze badges
0
Add a bình luận |
0
All is not a addressing mode, when we talk khổng lồ somebody we can use all to lớn denote a group of people but while writing an gmail it surely doesn’t make any sense.

Dear All is surely not correct vuialo.net khổng lồ start with the email, rather you could use dear colleagues at a workplace.

I presonally find writing dear all very informal and hence always use dear colleagues.

Share
Improve sầu this answer
Follow
edited Oct 1 "15 at 11:19
Wrzlprmft
4,07211 gold badge2424 silver badges4444 bronze badges
answered Aug 15 "12 at 4:12
Manav MathueManav Mathue
911 bronze badge
Add a bình luận |
Highly active sầu question. Earn 10 reputation (not counting the association bonus) in order to lớn answer this question. The reputation requirement helps protect this question from spam & non-answer activity.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged email greetings or ask your own question.

Featured on Meta
9 votes · phản hồi · stats
Linked
8
Usage of 'Dear All'
2
What is the name of this line in a letter . e.g we have sầu subject etc?
1
What style should I use in e-mail salutations khổng lồ superiors, colleagues, or juniors?
5
Formal salutation to lớn a group
4
Status of 'Dear Both' as a salutation
5
Should a note be addressed with “Hi all” or “Hi All”?
3
Capitalization of “A” in “Dear All”
0
Is “Hi alls” used in vuialo.net?
Related
11
Appropriate khổng lồ start business email or letter with just “Dear,”?
2
Is it appropriate to use “You're welcome,” followed by my name in closing an email?
0
Is a salutation necessary in an tin nhắn to an unknown person?
1
Word for tin nhắn that renders across all devices?
Hot Network Questions more hot questions
Question feed
Subscribe lớn RSS
Question feed To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy & paste this URL into your RSS reader.

vuialo.net Language & Usage
Company
Staông chồng Exchange Network
site design / logo © 2021 Stachồng Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. rev2021.8.13.39972

vuialo.net Language và Usage Staông chồng Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled

Your privacy

By clicking “Accept all cookies”, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device & discthua kém information in accordance with our Cookie Policy.