| British | American | |
| 1. Formal or Routine | Yours faithfully, Faithfully yours | (Very) truly yours, Sincerely yours, Yours (very) truly |
| 2. Informal | Yours sincerely, Yours truly, | Sincerely yours, Cordially yours |
| 3. Personal | Yours sincerely, Sincerely, (With) best wishes, Yours | Sincerely yours, With kind regards, Sincerely, With best regards, Yours |
The salutation dear madam is used when addressing both a married and a single woman. Dear Miss is never used as a salutation. Such salutations as Sir or Madam (without the word Dear) are very formal and you shouldn’t use them often. If you know a person, you may use informal salutations such as Dear Mr. Brown or Dear Miss Smith.
American formal and informal salutations end with a colon.
Bear in mind (ïîìíèòå) that the most formal (official) complimentary closes are Yours faithfully (Yours truly). Yours sincerely expresses friendliness and informality.