Is it ever grammatically correct to write “To whom it may concern:” for a letter instead of “To Whom It May Concern:”?
Of course it is. The capitalization is just one of the idiosyncrasies of formal letter writing.
Ok, but what if it’s in a formal letter? I ask only because I already made the mistake, and now want to be able to show it wasn’t a mistake at all:)
Or, you can write it very loud: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN!
That begs the question, is it good grammar to say “Whosever the fuck gets this”
That grammar’s wrong, RM, it should “Whomsoever the fuck gets this.” Not only is the grammar wrong, but the grampa aint so good neither.
Well, I feel pretty stupid for writing it (it was on a cover letter for a job…oy vey!) I’m was an English major, so I’m supposed to be an expert on grammar, right? Well, I hate to inform you that I haven’t taken a grammar class since I was in high school. You just don’t do that type of work in college. Or, at least, I didn’t. Soooo, come on, is there some rule, somewhere making it okay to use that in a formal letter? Some style of writing? It doesn’t really matter now, but the guy pointed it out during the interview (do’h!), asking if it was correct. I told him I had seen it written both ways (and I SWEAR I have…doesn’t mean it’s correct though!)
surely you can write it without capitals in that it’s not anyone’s name
A couple of thoughts:
First, in a job-seekiing situation, you’ll get more mileage out of your cover letter if you call your prospective employer in advance and find out the name of the person to whom you should send the letter.
Second, if you did have a specific recipient for the letter, you’d darned well capitalize every word in THAT salutation (Mr. Jack Jones, Director of Marketing). It makes sense to carry the convention over into To Whom It May Concern.
Third, it’s really more an Elements of Style thing than a grammar thing.
Prufrock, neither the fourth nor the eleventh editions of Harbrace College Handbook addresses the capitalization issue with a rule. However, all examples they give are capitalized. There is definitely no rule against it.
Harbrace is considered the grammarian’s Bible. I strongly recommend investing in a copy whether you remain a teacher or choose something else.
Hmmm…I wonder if y’all will start picking on all of my grammatical and spelling mistakes now.:smack:
I disagree with you. He’s just fine.
Love,
Grammy
Yep, he was yanking you. Some people just want to see the color of your sweat in an interview, see how you hold up.