If I start a letter with Dear Sir how shoul I end it

Both are fine, but Yours faithfully is safer. Note that the second word should be lower case.

J. Smith, esq., - Dear Sir - Yours faithfully

or

Mr J. Smith / Mr John Smith - Dear Mr Smith / Dear John - Yours sincerely.

The first example is very formal and seems to be rarely used these days.

Hope this helps.

Simon Stanley.

'Esquire' is long out of fashion, but if you use it and therefore have the recipient's surname, you do not use 'Dear Sir'-- use the name. Use 'Sir' when you do not have the name. British business usage still recommends 'faithfully' with 'Sir' and 'sincerely' with a named recipient.

If you start with "Dear Sir" you should end with "Yours faithfully,". If you start with a name, eg "Dear Mrs Smith," you should end with "Yours sincerely,"

If you know the person whom you are addressing you can use' yours sincerely, and if it is otherwise you need to use 'yours faithfully'

suresh

I'm afraid I overlooked Mister Micawber's reply. I thoroughy endorse his reply to this question.

suresh

If you start the letter with ,Dear sir, it should end with yours faithfully.You can use yours sincerely when you address the name of the person. eg: Dear Tom,.I hope it will clear your boubts.

Just note:

It depends when you say "Dear Tom", you ends with "your sincerely" if you just know him by name. But if he is your friends or someone you know you ends with "Best wishes" or "Love".

LB

your's faithfully

No. Yours faithfully.