To the Attention Of – Meaning & Usage in a Letter

A phrase that you might have spotted in the past is “to the attention of”. It’s difficult to really know what the phrase is used for without any context. This article will explain what “to the attention of” means and how you use it in a letter.

What Does “Send to the Attention Of” Mean?

“Send to the attention of” is a way to make it clear in a letter who should be opening your letter inside the broad company that the letter has presumably been sent into. That way, while the letter is addressed to the company, you can specify a subject.

Therefore, by using “send to the attention of” you’re managing to make it clear who, inside of the company’s structure, should be the person reading and responding to the letter itself.

It’s a very logical resource, as while it might be the norm to send letters to a company, a company can’t read or reply to a letter. An employee from that company, however, can.

When Should You Use “To the Attention Of”?

“To the attention of” is a resource that should be used whenever you’re addressing a letter towards a company but you want to specify who inside of that company ought to be reading and replying to your message.

So if you’re sending a letter to company A but you know that you specifically want the Human Resources Manager to read it then you can say “To the attention of the Human Resources Manager”.

This works even better if you know the person’s name, as then you can do a simple “To the attention of Phil Tippet, Human Resources Manager” and therefore acknowledge that person’s authority.

How Do You Use “To the Attention Of” in a Letter?

The way to use “to the attention of” in a letter is by including it inside the letter. You could include it in the address section of the letter, though some use this phrase after the opening line of the body of the letter itself. It’s a matter of preference.

Here’s how to say “to the attention of” in the starting lines of a letter:

• Dear Person
• To the attention of (Person’s Name and Role)
• Starting line of the letter itself

Example Letters

Here we have assembled some example letters so that you’ll be able to properly see how you can use “to the attention of” in the grammatically correct and elegant way that you should use for this expression:

• Dear Sir,
• To the attention of Jonathan Banks, CEO
• It has come to my attention that…

• Dear Madam,
• To the attention of Jane Smith, Treasurer of the Company
• After our conversation the other day, I realized…

• Dear Sir,
• To the attention of Brian Bendis, Executive Producer
• It’s been a while since I last had the pleasure of talking to you…

• Dear Madam,
• To the attention of Karen Berger, Editor in Chief
• Hello Karen, I hope that you have been well these past months…

Variations of ”To the Attention Of”

Because “to the attention of” is quite an antiquated sort of expression, it has naturally evolved since it got its start, and nowadays there are quite a lot of variations of “to the attention of” that are all worth learning about if you’re interested in improving your own letters.

There’s the variation where instead of writing “to the attention of” inside the body of the letter, you write it on the address, to make things easier for the people at the company:

• Random Company
• To the attention of Phil Tippet, Human Resources Manager
• 1005 Northwest Avenue

And then there’s the variation in which you include “to the attention of” in the address body of a letter in an abbreviated manner, instead of writing out the phrase you just write their name:

• Random Company
• Phil Tippet, Human Resources Manager
• 1005 Northwest Avenue

Then there’s the variation in which you say “for the attention of” rather than “to the attention of”. It’s a small difference, and here’s how to say “for the attention of” in a letter:

• Random Company
• For the attention of Phil Tippet, Human Resources Manager
• 1005 Northwest Avenue

Now the standard phrase is “to the attention of”, and while some people might use “to the attention for”, we would suggest that you avoid that, as it sounds awkward and strange.