How to Write Salutations in OET Letters

An OET letter has two salutations.

The salutation used at the start is called ‘Greeting’, and that used at the end is called ‘Complimentary Close’.

This OET guide discusses how to write salutations in an OET letter.

1. Greeting

This is written after Date and Address.
It is used to address the recipient of the letter.

1.1. If the name of the recipient is given in the case notes, it is structured as

Dear + Appropriate title + The recipient’s surname/last name/family name
Example
If the recipient’s full name is Dr Sarah Reynolds, the greeting should be
Dear Dr Reynolds

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1.2. If the recipient is a medical professional, but the name is NOT given in the case notes, it can be written as

Dear + Job Title (if the recipient is a medical professional)
Example
Dear Doctor
Dear Nurse
Dear Dentist

1.3. If the recipient is NOT a medical professional (or not sure/clear from the case notes), and the name is NOT given in the case notes, it can be given as

Dear + Sir/Madam (if the recipient is NOT a medical professional)
If only the job title is given  
The Manager
The Director

2. Complimentary Close

It is written to sign off the letter at the end.

If the name of the recipient is given in the case notes, write
Yours sincerely
If the name of the recipient is NOT given in the case notes, write

Yours faithfully
This can be followed by the job title of the writer (Doctor/Nurse/Pharmacist/Physiotherapist) or as given in the case notes. (Please avoid writing own name.)

NOTE:
The following closing salutations should be avoided.

Yours truly
Yours respectfully
Regards/With regards/Warm regards

3. Punctuating the Salutations

It is not required to add a punctuation at the end of the salutations. However, using a comma is optional.

Examples

4. Criteria

Considering that the salutations are part of the layout/format of the letter, a missing salutation or salutations in the letter will affect the score for the criterion ‘Organization and Layout’.

However, an incorrect salutation can impact the score for ‘Genre and Style’.