For example: When addressing a letter to the holder of a particular position without knowing the name or gender of the addressee, it is common to write “Dear Sir or Madam ,” (or in the United States, “Dear Sir or Madam :” This holds in both American and British English. Dear Sir / Madam or Dear Sir & Madam ????? Dear Sir / Madam or Dear Sir & Madam ? If each recipient receives one email: "Dear Sir or Madam " If each recipient is two people who (i) share an email address and can see each other's emails, and (ii) you know that each pair of people consists of one man and one woman: Dear Sir & Madam . (This form is usually only used in formal business correspondence to a married couple and, even then, is very rare.) However, you have not told us why you are sending the ... 73 When is it appropriate to use the terms Dear Sir or Madam and To whom it may concern? The rules I was taught state that Dear Sir or Madam should be used when you're writing a letter to a person about something that person has direct involvement in (e.g. returning a defective product to a customer service department). When writing a letter to officials you don't know the sex of, do you say Dear Madam / Sir or Dear All? How do you avoid the fact that you don't know the sex of the official(s) to whom you are writ...
