英文信？写给一外国公司的不知道dear 后面应该写什么
(prepared by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)

The topic on how to properly addressing someone in the opening phrase of a business letter is called “salutation”, or “opening greeting”.

Here are the guidelines:

• To a man: 

                  Dear Mr. Smith:

• To a woman:

                  o a married woman: 

                                   Dear Mrs. Smith:

                  o an unmarried woman: 

                                    Dear Miss Smith:

                  o not sure marital status (i.e., married or unmarried) of the woman: 

                                    Dear Ms. Smith:

• To someone not sure of gender after failing to find out with efforts, use full name: 

                  Dear Alex Smith:

• To a medical doctor or someone with a PhD degree: 

                  Dear Dr. Smith:

• To a close friend, e.g., John Smith: 

                  Dear John:

• To someone you don’t know the name: 

                  o a man: 

                                   Dear Sir:

                  o men: 

                                    Dear Sirs:

                  o a woman: 

                                   Dear Madam:

                  o women: 

                                   Dear Madams:

                  o a person with gender and name unknown: 

                                   Dear Sir or Madam:

                                   Dear Sir/Madam:

                   o a group of men and women:

                                   Dear Sirs or Madams:

                                   Dear Sirs/Madams:

• To a recipient you don’t know who he/she may be, 

                   o recommendation letter for a person:

                                   To Whom It May Concern:

                   o use title, e.g., for job application to a company:

                                    Dear Personnel Manager:

• (Note: You can use comma “,” instead of “:” in salutation but that is more casual, e.g., “Dear John,”, instead of “Dear John:”, but I would avoid it)

• Other casual salutation instead of “Dear”, usually in emails with people you know well:

                   o Hi, John,

                   o (sometimes with people you don’t know) Hello, Sir,

                   o Greetings, Jane,

                   o Good Morning, John,

                   o Good Afternoon, Margaret,