Yours faithfully/yours sincerely

Helen_w

When do you use yours failthfully and yours sincerely to sign a letter?

Reply 1

Socrates

we were taught never to use the two 's' together - when you start with Dear Sir, you end with faithfully, when you start with Dear Mr/Ms X, you end with sincerely.

Reply 2

Aitch

Helen_w

When do you use yours failthfully and yours sincerely to sign a letter?

Dear Sir/Madam -> Yours faithfully
Dear Mr(s) Smith -> Yours sincerely

Aitch

Reply 3

*starry_eyed_*

exactly as aitch said

Reply 4

Fiona87

My trick was "since" I know you by name ("sincerely").

Reply 5

buttons7

Fiona87

My trick was "since" I know you by name ("sincerely").

i think she's got it right there. 'yours sincerely' if you know the name of the person you're writing to, 'yours faithfully' if you don't. so:

dear sir/madam = yours faithfully
dear mr. smith / mrs. smith = yours sincerely

Reply 6

Tyler Durden

If you don't know them it's "faithfully" because you are writing "in faith" as you don't actually know who they are. That's how I learnt it.

Reply 7

anon53

That's correct.
For example, if you are writing to a stranger - someone you don't know then it could be said you are writing ''in faith'', so you should use ''Yours faithfully''
If you know the person you are writing to e.g. Mr and Mrs Smith, then you should end your letter ''Yours sincerly'', as stated above in previous posts.

Reply 8

Charlottie

Here's another trick to remember, kinda like the 'in faith' one. Think of the saying 'blind faith'. You're sending the letter blind, because you don't know the name of the person you're writing to.