Email greetings: hi <name> vs dear <name> vs hi dear <name>

"Dear X" is the standard way to begin a letter, but it should -not be combined with another greeting unless you are intending to express ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Emailgreetings:hivsdearvshidear AskQuestion Asked 1year,4monthsago Modified 1year,4monthsago Viewed 428times -1 Iamnotsurewhatistherightwaytobeabitinformalinanemail.Whenstudentscallaprofessororastaffbythefirstname,Ibelievegreetingsinanemailcanbeabitcasual. IbelievethemostformalwaytocallaprofessorisDearProf.andforastaff,IbelieveitwouldbeDear\\. Butwhenitcomestoalessformalway,therearelotsofpossibilities.Iamnotsurewhichonesareappropriateandwhicharenot.Canyoupleasetellmewhichoftheseareinformalbutstillrespectful? 1Dear 2HidearProfessororHellodearProfessor 3HiProf.orHelloProf. 4HiorHello 5HidearorHellodear 6HidearProf. emailgreetings Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedMar21,2021at1:24 EddieKal 18.6k2626goldbadges7373silverbadges160160bronzebadges askedMar20,2021at17:51 R.JavidR.Javid 31133silverbadges1313bronzebadges 4 1 IworkinaUKlegaloffice,andwehadatempfromanagencywho,wefound,wasemailingjudgesstarting'HiJudge'.Anolder,senior,malejudgecomplainedabouthernotusingappropriateformofaddress.Shesaid,notunreasonably,thatmostjudgesresponded'HiDani'.Youroptions2to6areeitherinformalorjuststrange.Soplaysafeanduseoption1only. – MichaelHarvey Mar20,2021at18:29 1 "DearX"isthestandardwaytobeginaletter,butitshould-notbecombinedwithanothergreetingunlessyouareintendingtoexpressaffectionfortherecipient."Hello,dearProfessor"impliesthattheprofessorisliterallydeartoyou. – KateBunting Mar20,2021at19:16 1 Idon'tbelieveIhaveever,ever,everstartedanemailwithDear(anybody).Thatisaconventionoftraditionalletters(still),thatasfarasIamconcerned,hasneverbeentransferredtoemail. – ColinFine Mar20,2021at21:03 1 @ColinFine-DearJudge,DearMrJones,DearBill,allprettycommonwhereIwork,alsojustthetitleandsurnamee.g.JudgeJones,MsPanesar,orevenjustthefirstnamealone. – MichaelHarvey Mar20,2021at22:11 Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 2 ContrarytoColin(incomments)Ioftenstartemailswith"Dear",especiallywhenIamnotreplying,andcertainlyifthepersonisnotsomeoneIinteractwithallthetime. Forexample,writingtotheschoolexamsecretary: DearKatie, We'vedecidedtousetheweekof.... Writingtoaparent DearMsPrice, Ipleasedtoreportthat... Writingagroupemailtomyclass: Dearall, Thehomeworkthisweekwillbe... Ontheotherhandwhenwritingtoteachersinmyowndepartment(thatIworkcloselywith) GoodmorningClare, Canwemeettotalkabout... HelloJoe,Louis, CanIaskafavour... WhenreplyingtoaninternalemailIdon'twriteanysalutation.Ijustresponddirectly Replyingtotheexamsecretary: Yes,that'sagoodidea.... Replyingtoanotherteacheraskingaboutastudent: Asof4thMarch,Oliveris.... (actualexamplesfrommyemails,butnamesanddetailshavebeenchanged) Generaladvice:Ifnotsure,start"Dear".Nobodywillcomplainanditisquitenormal.Whenreplyinginternallyyoudon'tneedanysalutation.ButIwouldstilluseonwhenwritingexternally. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar20,2021at22:53 JamesKJamesK 151k99goldbadges172172silverbadges291291bronzebadges 1 Youoftensee'dear'usedinanon-British-standardwayinmaterialwrittenbyIndianspeakers.MyGmailspamfolderregularlycontainsemailsstarting'Hellodear'. – MichaelHarvey Mar21,2021at9:52 Addacomment  |  0 2,5and6arenotprofessionalornatural-sounding,andIwouldn'tusetheminaninformalwayeither,theyhaveanoddandforeignfeelingtomeasanativespeaker. 3(Usinghello,nothi)hasanappropriatebalanceofinformalandrespectful,althoughthatreallydependsontheperson'sstatus. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedMar20,2021at18:15 answeredMar20,2021at17:58 RubrudRubrud 11222bronzebadges Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedemailgreetings. 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