{"id":9793,"date":"2020-12-16T11:28:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T11:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=9793"},"modified":"2023-04-09T19:22:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T19:22:07","slug":"many-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/many-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMany Thanks\u201d As a Sign-off Phrase (in a Letter, E-mail)"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}<\/style><p>These days, email is everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, that means communication is faster and more efficient than it&rsquo;s ever been before.<\/p>\n<p>However, the ubiquity of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/careers.tufts.edu\/resources\/professional-email-etiquette\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email<\/a> <\/strong>has given rise to a whole new set of phrases and words, along with rules on when and where to use them.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we&rsquo;ll look at &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; as a signoff phrase, and explore alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Is it okay to use &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; at the end of an email?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The phrase &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; is one common way to end emails, especially if you&rsquo;re asking somebody to do something for you. Although some people think it&rsquo;s not proper English, it&rsquo;s a perfectly grammatical way to express your gratitude to somebody at the end of an email, letter or other written communication. If ending an email with &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; seems like overkill, there are many possible alternatives.<\/strong><br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Ending an email with &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo;<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; is just a way to say &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; when a simple &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; is not enough.<\/p>\n<p>Where does this phrase come from? One possibility is German, where the expression &ldquo;Vielen Dank!&rdquo; (many thanks) is a common way of saying thank you.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s hard to say for certain, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-though\/\">though<\/a><\/strong>, as many other languages also contain a similar or identical phrase.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of its origins, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with using &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; to sign off after an email.<\/p>\n<p>You probably shouldn&rsquo;t use it for every single email you send, however, as it suggests that the person you&rsquo;re writing to has either done something for you already or is likely to be doing something for you in the future.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Is &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; proper grammar?<\/h2>\n<p>There&rsquo;s some concern that &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; is not correct grammar.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, grammar is actually just a description of usage. That means the popularity of this phrase would make it a &ldquo;correct&rdquo; thing to say anyway, as long as people can understand it.<\/p>\n<p>Digressions into the meaning of grammar aside, &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; is perfectly grammatical no matter how you look at it.<\/p>\n<p>The word &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; is the plural of the word &ldquo;thank,&rdquo; although the singular noun form has more or less vanished. &ldquo;Thank&rdquo; means something like &ldquo;an expression of thankfulness,&rdquo; so it makes sense for &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; to stand in for more than one.<\/p>\n<p>With the plural form of a noun, you need to use the word &ldquo;many&rdquo; if you want to suggest there is a large quantity. So &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; is more or less the same as &ldquo;thank you very much.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h3>Examples<\/h3>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">\n<p>&ldquo;Dear Robert,<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;m writing you this email because I need your help with the big presentation next week. Can you reply when you have time so I can fill you in on the details? It will be exciting!<\/p>\n<p>Many thanks,<\/p>\n<p>Sue&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Here, the author of the email is using &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; because she is asking Robert to help her with something. In this case, in other words, the thanks are for a series of actions <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-yet\/\">yet<\/a> <\/strong>to happen.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9806\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg\" alt='The Usage of \"Many Thanks\" in Letters and Emails' width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-512x768.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9806 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201000%201500'%3E%3Crect%20width='1000'%20height='1500'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt='The Usage of \"Many Thanks\" in Letters and Emails' width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Many-Thanks-512x768.jpg 512w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Alternatives to &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo;<\/h2>\n<p>If you don&rsquo;t want to sound too thankful, there are many other options you can use to sign your name on an email.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Thanks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Short, but sweet. It&rsquo;s hard to go wrong with a simple &ldquo;thanks.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In a formal setting, the more polite &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; may be more appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Both show your gratitude toward the person you are writing without overemphasizing it.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">\n<p>&ldquo;Mom, can you pick up my grades from the school? Thanks!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>This example shows that &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; works great in a text message, as well as in an email. Here, the assumption is that Mom probably won&rsquo;t <a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/how-to-say-no-in-a-nice-way\/\">say no<\/a>, and maybe that this isn&rsquo;t a big task, so a simple &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; is more appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Let me know if you have any questions.<\/h3>\n<p>If you don&rsquo;t want to take someone&rsquo;s participation on a future project for granted, it can be useful to ask if they have questions about your email instead.<\/p>\n<p>This way, you may increase your chances of a response to your email, and you will also get the recipient to think more about what you&rsquo;re proposing.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, that will make them more likely to participate when you answer their questions.<\/p>\n<p>You can also combine this with a &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; if you want to be polite.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">\n<p>&ldquo;Hi Jed,<\/p>\n<p>Just writing a quick note to remind you that the harvest festival is next week, and we still haven&rsquo;t received the money for your booth rental.<\/p>\n<p>Let me know if you have any questions.<\/p>\n<p>Ede&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Here, &ldquo;let me know if you have any questions&rdquo; is used to give the recipient a graceful way out of his lateness. This is a great example of how to use this phrase to elicit a response to your email.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>3. Sincerely<\/h3>\n<p>Much like &ldquo;thanks,&rdquo; sincerely is a time-honored way to end a written communication in any medium.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s best suited to formal situations, or those where you aren&rsquo;t very well acquainted with the person you&rsquo;re writing to.<\/p>\n<p>This option also works well if you aren&rsquo;t actually thanking the recipient. If you do need to add some thanks, the formal &ldquo;Thank you for your time&rdquo; can be used.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">\n<p>&ldquo;Dear Mr. Asimov,<\/p>\n<p>Please find attached to this email a short story for your magazine, Asimov&rsquo;s Science Fiction.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your time and consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>Steven Goulding&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>A formal letter like the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/cover-letters\/\" title=\"cover letter\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">cover letter<\/a> used when submitting a short story to a magazine for publication is a great place to use &ldquo;sincerely.<\/p>\n<p>There are many other suitable situations, as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>I really appreciate your help.<\/h3>\n<p>In situations where you either need to be very formal or want to show how much you needed someone&rsquo;s help with something, this is a great option.<\/p>\n<p>As an added bonus, it can technically refer to both help already received and help you haven&rsquo;t gotten yet, just like &ldquo;many thanks.&rdquo; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-however\/\">However<\/a><\/strong>, if you want to be sure of getting help for something you haven&rsquo;t done yet, you can write &ldquo;I would really appreciate your help,&rdquo; instead.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">\n<p>&ldquo;Dear Mrs. Robinson,<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;m writing you on behalf of the whole team at Universal.<\/p>\n<p>You have been an amazing person to have involved with this project, and we would be lost without you.<\/p>\n<p>We all really appreciate your help.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The context of this email makes it clear that this appreciation is being given for something that has already happened, so &ldquo;would&rdquo; is not appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>This is a place where ending an email with &ldquo;many thanks&rdquo; would be a bit too casual.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Much thanks<\/h3>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s backtrack a little on what we said earlier. If &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; is the plural of &ldquo;thank,&rdquo; it should use &ldquo;many,&rdquo; not &ldquo;much.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>So what gives?<\/p>\n<p>The truth is complicated, as matters of grammar often are. While &ldquo;thanks&rdquo; <em>can<\/em> be the plural form of &ldquo;thank,&rdquo; it can also be a type of noun called an uncountable, or mass noun.<\/p>\n<p>Mass nouns are concepts and ideas that can&rsquo;t really be split into discrete units.<\/p>\n<p>The word &ldquo;electricity&rdquo; is a great example. You can&rsquo;t say &ldquo;I have two electricity,&rdquo; because it isn&rsquo;t that kind of concept. It needs to always be plural, and is thus &ldquo;uncountable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Thanks&rdquo; as an uncountable noun means something like &ldquo;feelings of gratitude&rdquo; and takes &ldquo;much&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;many,&rdquo; so this is also technically grammatical.<\/p>\n<p>That said, it&rsquo;s less common than &ldquo;many thanks,&rdquo; and some people might think you made a mistake in typing it, so use this one with caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These days, email is everywhere. On the one hand, that means communication is faster and more efficient than it&rsquo;s ever been before. However, the ubiquity of email has given rise to a whole new set of phrases and words, along with rules on when and where to use them. In this article, we&rsquo;ll look at &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[252],"class_list":["post-9793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-many-thanks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9793"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24420,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions\/24420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}