Sincerely or Faithfully

[kayzr]

Do you put sincerely or faithfully at the end of a letter if you know the name of the person you are writing to?

I was told at school but I can not remember at all.

Thanks.

It's sincerely.

Never put 2 Ss together - ie Dear Sir, would be yours faithfully. Dear Mr/s SoAndSO is yours sincerely.

you can only be sincere if you know who someone is

sincerely if you know their name

faithfully if sir or madam

completely opposite from what you would think

Thank you everyone.

I was told you can't be sincere to someone you don't know.

But why would you be faithful to someone you don't know?

You aren't faithful to someone that you don't know. You write in good faith. Therein lies the difference.

I was also taught by my old English teacher that faithfully must start with lower case and Sincerely should have a capital S.

Marks and Spencer.

M&S

Mr and sincerely.

Or science fiction

SF

Sir Faithfully

I was taught that you use Sincerely when you are directly addressing someone (Mr Jones) and Faithfully if not (Sir/Madam).

Maybe that is wrong?

Dear Sir or Madam, Madam I'm Adam, Adam Faith, yours faithfully.

And 'sincerely' shouldn't begin with a capital S.

How I always remember it is that

s = stranger
f = familiar

but that it's the other way round!

So sincerely is used for familiars and faithfully is used for strangers.

Seems odd but it works for me.

Just only use one form and stick to it?