What is an appropriate salutation for multiple addressees in a business letter? Hello, I teach a weekly English conversation class, and a student asked me a question for which I had no good answer. Assuming they re both male, I just use Sirs, but it seems a bit informal. In British English, don t use any punctuation mark or use a comma. To whom it may concern is too generic and awkward because I know exactly whom the letter concerns, and something like Dear Friends doesn t work because I m often writing letters to people who aren t exactly my friends.
A native English speaker would have no problem understanding that Margaret is a woman, but some non-native speakers may not be aware that Margaret is a females name. How do you greet multiple recipients in an ?
Just imagine for a nanosecond what it feels like to receive something at work that explicitly spells out it is aimed only at men. It depends who youre writing to, I think.
