Infinium: da hat dir jemanden einen Bären aufgebunden.
Es war einstmals so, dass man in Briefen nach dem Komma nach der Anrede groß weiterschrieb...

Mal ehrlich:
Hast du jemals irgendeinen englischen Text gesehen, in dem nach einem Komma alles groß weitergeschrieben wird?
Ich jedenfalls nicht.
Wer behauptet solchen Schwachsinn?

Dear Hein,

Did you mean to say "einstmals"??
Man schreibt immer noch groß nach dem Komma in der Briefanrede.
Du willst vielleicht darauf aufmerksam machen, dass man heutzutage kein Komma braucht, oder?
Der Brief fängt trotzdem groß an.

Yours sincerely
Ghosh

Kann es sein, daß Du das Wort "colon" (= Doppelpunkt) für "Komma" gehalten hast?

Nach einem Doppelpunkt wird nämlich tatsächlich groß weitergeschrieben.

I fully support Ghol ‹GB›. Nach der Anrede (mit oder ohne Komma) erfolgt Großschreibung.

and yet the logic of language dictates that after a comma the sentence continues as normal - regardless of where the comma is set.

the reason why most write in capitals after the comma in Anrede, is that Word sets a capital at the beginning of a line. we've gotten so used to it, that we accept it as fact.

<der Brief fängt trotzdem gross an> - yes, it does, with 'Dear XYZ,'. there is however no reason for it to continue 'Dear John, we received ....' is, and stays, correct usage.

@Penguin: nach einem Doppelpunkt schreibt man in BE klein weiter

In deutschen Briefen:

"Sehr gehrte(r) Alice/Bob,
Liebe(r) Alice/Bob,

Hier finden Sie / findest Du einen Briefanfang; nach anderen Kommas, wie hier, wirst Du klein weiterschreiben müssen."


In English letters:

"Dear Alice,
dear Bob,

here you find an English letter's beginning; after a comma like this, however, you won't use capitals."


Für Interpunktionsregeln sehr aufschlußreich, flüssig geschrieben und gar nicht langweilig:
Lynne Truss: Eats, shoots and leaves

@itzamna: I beg your pardon, but could you by any chance have it exactly backwards? As I learned it, German does not capitalize the first word after the salutation, English does. Pure convention, nothing to do with logic at all.


Liebe Alice,

hier findest Du ...


Sehr geehrter Herr Roberts,

hier finden Sie ...


Dear Alice,
Dear Mr. Roberts:

This is how you begin an English letter...


re Lynne Truss: Zwar nicht das Gelbe vom Ei, dafür aber schön unterhaltsam.

*heftigrotwerd*
*me2beifallklatsch*
*alleübrigenumentschuldigungbitt*

@me2
You are absolutely right!
Where did I have my head?
Or was it my editor who intervened?

@Ghol re capitalisation after a colon:

You are right and I am wrong - most of my sources on capital letters after a colon are either .com (=AE) or style guides for journalists concerning titles and headlines

@odondon
For once we can't blame Bill Gates <s> I have a book on 'Commercial Correspondence' which dates back to 1967, my reprint dates from 1985 - ie waaay before the onset of Windows, Word etc. All - repeat ALL - examples of business letters have a capitalized letter after the comma, and of course after the colon as well. And of coure I'm talking about the opening in a letter ('Dear...') - no capitalization in the middle of a sentence, needless to say.

BTW: "DU" in der persönlichen Anrede schreibt man klein (außer man bevorzugt die "klassische " Rechtschreibung).

Wenngleich "offiziell" in englischen Briefen nach der Anrede + Komma groß weiter geschrieben wird, ist mir bereits häufiger aufgefallen, dass sich zumindest in E-Mails keiner meiner britischen Kollegen an diese Regel hält.

Ich bin der einzige, der dort immer groß schreibt ...

@Sophil - i never 'learned' to write letters. it may well be that it is accepted usage in old-fashioned companies, but i've never encountered it in a private setting, i'd never do it myself (it would appear completely wrong to _me_), and i've found no evidence whatsoever in all the papers i've collected over the years of this usage occuring.
i _will_ continue to write small after commas, regardless of where they occur.
:o)

odondon: please don't mislead people ;-)

It is still standard practice to start a letter with a capital letter. This should still be observed, even when writing to companies which are not stuck in the mud.
Emails may well follow different rules -- but then again, you can write them without using any capitals at all.

Re: colon

The rule about colons and capitalization are pretty much the same in German and English, as far as I know. If you give a list - for example - there's no need for capitalization; however, if you introduce a whole sentence with a colon, then you do start with a capital letter.

Re: capitalization in letters

Both ways are in use. We may go on about endlessly about which one is the more correct form... fact is that both forms are used.

*** Capital after comma ***

Dear Mr Smith,

Thank you for your letter of ....

I regard this example as standard BE, certainly in formal writing, although many organisations now simply omit the comma, while keeping the capital letter in the next line.

*** Capital after colon ***
There are hard and fast rules, but many of them for different situations!

HAMLET: To be or not to be: that is the question (i.e. capital, then not)

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archiv...

and the many links within that page will provide plentiful bedtime reading.

@Infinium - My German may be lacking, but in your posting you do not specifically refer to letter writing. I woul;d terefore say , you do not use a capital after a comma . However, after addressing a letter,i would always use a capital after the address (Dear Sir/Madam, new line ,Capital.
Dear John,
I thank you....(handwritten)
Dear John,
I thank you...........(computer)
But then that's me, I'm fighting a personal war against being called DEAR. I don't think I ,as a male, like being called dear.I just write my personal letters as if I was meeeting and talking to the person.I would no more write Dear John than write Darling John
John,
Thanks for your letter...
AND, In addressing the envelope I omit the MR. MRS or M/S,particularly when the addressee is female.
In short I think it time the etiquette of letter writing was changed

Moose John,

You have somewhat unorthodox preferences regarding salutations and letter writing, but far be it from me to violate your trust. I can tell your taste runs to the more manly appelation and I hope you appreciate the iconoclastic and ground-breaking salutation I coined for the occasion.

Yours gaily, [what do you think of this one?]

Peter

@Peter<us> Not bad Peter. The 'moose' bit throws me as I am not sure what characteristics are attributed to the moose.
You at least appreciate that my posting was in two parts 1.inside the letter and 2.addressing the envelope.
In 1., you have three conclusions to draw a.I'm talking a load of bollo... B.I don't write to many people or c. I only use e-mail
I'll give you a clue - I have been known to do a. from time to time (at least my friends tell me so)
I'll stick to my guns on the envelope bit; after all, if it's a male name we know it's mr and if female, we have to respect a woman's right to keep her status a secret just like us,mooses.
Watch this space.

@Peter<us> and 30 minutes later the penny dropped about the Deer (Moose)