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Recently, I had to write an email to one of my professors regarding an urgent matter. I was basically asking him for some guidance in the matter.

I am not a native speaker and normally I end my formal emails with 'Best regards'. Since this was important to me and I wanted a quick response I wanted to sign with 'Your hopefully'. I didn't know if this would be an appropriate way of ending a letter to a professor.

Is 'Yours hopefully' formal or informal? Is it still used to end letters with?

Note: I have read the following posts.

Is it "Yours faithfully" or "Yours sincerely"? Is usage of “Yours sincerely” still appropriate?

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    If the rest of the letter suits it, it sounds fine. It's not a common sign-off, but it fits the theme of sign-offs describing one's attitude / mood / (emotional) posture when composing letters.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 14:02
  • It would probably have made the professor smile, if only for its quaintness of expression. I would though counsel against overuse. Suggesting a date to a good looking other, and ending "yours hopefully" might scupper your chances entirely!
    – WS2
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 14:45
  • @WS2 That is why I normally use 'Best regards' to sign-off. As this was a special circumstance and I needed the professor's attention to the urgency of the matter I thought 'Yours hopefully' would be appropriate, which I didn't use by the way.
    – user223816
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 17:39
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    "Best regards" isn't very formal either - it's recently become common in business emails especially with the sort of mundane emails colleagues (or I guess students and professors) send each other a dozen times a day and need something to put at the end, but it's not a classic way of writing formal letters (unlike yours sincerely etc).
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 27 at 13:26
  • You could write it as a kind of hoping he will respond favourably. It would be ok but rather formal even though the phrase doesn't exist per se. You can also use: Best wishes.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 27 at 17:14

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As far as I'm aware, "yours sincerely" and "yours faithfully" are the two formal closings with their own rules described in the article you link. I haven't come across "yours hopefully" before and whilst it can make sense, as @Lawrence says, then it could be fine to use. However, if you'd like to stick to more standard endings, I would suggest a closing sentence such as "I hope to hear from you soon" / "I hope for a resolution to this matter", followed by the more standard closings.

Another option which I recall seeing could be "Yours in anticipation".

Finally, depending on your location, there are US/UK differences to bear in mind.

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  • In emails (which are sent a lot more frequently than letters - or were till the rise of Slack and Teams) there's a tendency for greater informality, and the rules are still in flux a bit (and there are bosses and professors who'll end emails "BR" or something equally eccentric). But "Yours sincerely/faithfully" is probably too much unless writing an important stranger.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 27 at 13:33

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