I hate Sincerely and Regards... Why should we use them?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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When ending a letter or email many people precede their name or signature with “Sincerely” or “Regards”.

I find both of these to be silly things to add and quite extraneous (something extra that’s not needed).

Sincere means honest or truthful. So by signing a letter “Sincerely” you are stating that you are speaking honestly and telling the truth. To me this brings forth the question “Is this person not normally honest and sincere? Should I believe things they say when it’s not ended with a reassurance such as sincerely?”

Regards comes from the phrase “With Kind Regards” which means that someone is wishing you well or mor specifically that they regard you and what you originally wrote to them with kind (friendly) intentions.

The problem with this is that if you only type “Regards” are you saying that you’re not kind or friendly anymore but feel some need to type something? Also, if you write an letter in which you are very negative toward the person or tell them they are wrong and such, should you really be ending that message with something meant to provide a positive light?

Another ending that does this is “Best wishes”.

I can think of at least one regular poster on here that often writes very rude and insulting replies to people yet as soon as he’s finished insulting them ends his posts with something like “Kind Regards” or “Best Wishes” or “Cheers”. Well how do you justify ending a very unkind message with “kind regards”?

Seriously, why should we use such things, and if we do choose to use an ending message, should they not relate to the tone of the letter in which they appear?

1 Like
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So how do you usually end your letters/forum posts/messages, Drew?[YSaerTTEW443543]

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Depending on the nature of the communication, often I end with Thank you, or something like that, or just end it with my name.

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I found your post very interesting.

Thank you.

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Hi Drew,

I have only one question: Did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning?

Regards (sincerely meant) and the very best of wishes,

Alan

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Drew, if you write a letter in which you are very negative toward a person you actually shouldn’t write that letter in the first place. Any message, letter, email, forum post or any other piece of communication should contain positive thoughts and constructive ideas. Otherwise it would be complete waste of time and energy resources.

All the best and many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

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LOL Alan no I didn’t get out of bed on the wrong side (although after waiting the entire day for the cable repairman I may be now) but this is something that I have seen in a great many ESL books and really it just seems silly to me. Especially the sincerely part…

@Torsten – I agree that negative things are probably best left unwritten, and that is generally my policy. However I have seen many, and received many such negative letters of even replies on forums that ended in some friendly connotation (which of course in that circumstance is false friendliness).

But really this is not so much a tirade, it’s just that the universal use of things like this at the end of letters seems a bit inane.

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Hi Drew, in case you want a bit of positive language you might want to read Alan’s essay on the language of optimism :wink: ![YSaerTTEW443543]

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Hi, OxfordBlues!

But you are not forced to end letters with those endings… So, make your mind easy!

1 Like
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Regards -->use frequently in informal or friendly letters
Sincerely -->use frequently in formal letters

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Hi Aellynne!
Thanks so much for the lucid explanation Aellynne!

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But to tell the truth I used to write my name at the end of each letter or thanks.

Thanks.
Samira