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> Over the years, I have always used a colon on the open salutation of
any letter, both personal and formal.
A colon is the proper punctuation in business and formal correspondence.
A comma is used for personal and informal correspondence. I agree; it
does seem that using the comma in a formal or business letter is
becoming more accepted -- maybe because many of us were not taught this
in school. These days, the only letters that I receive where the
salutation ends with a colon, are bad news letters:
* Mr. Butler: <You screwed up....>
* Mr. Butler: <You owe us $$$....>
* Mr. Butler: <Your request has been rejected....>
-----Original Message-----
From:
techwr-l-bounces+darren -dot- butler -dot- ctr=robins -dot- af -dot- mil -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+darren -dot- butler -dot- ctr=robins -dot- af -dot- mil -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot-
com] On Behalf Of Ron Wilbanks
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 3:15 AM
To: Techwr-l
Subject: Punctuation question
Over the years, I have always used a colon on the open salutation of any
letter, both personal and formal. Lately, I have been receiving
business letters that use a comma, rather than a colon addressed to my
boss. Likewise, I also see the use of the comma becoming far more
widespread than the colon in this area.
Has the rules of writing changed, and now favor the comma for a
salutation, or is the colon still the rule? My boss, who is 54
years-old, uses the comma all the time, as does his 19 year-old
daughter.
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