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Ms., Miss. or Mrs.

ESL Writing » Formal, General & Business Letter...

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nona the brit  +  538666 Wed, 09 Jul 08 11:06 AM
The nice thing is that women have the choice now (:)) Smile
nona the brit
Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004
England
Veteran Member 11,713
The name says it all.
Anonymous, 1 yr 134 days ago
I'm glad I'm a Mr.! Big Smile
Related discussions
Anonymous, 1 yr 125 days ago
Miss is for a young girls and teenagers.  Ms. is for adults.  Mrs. is used when using the husbands name.  Mr. and Mrs. John Smith or Mrs. John Smith.  Otherwise it's Ms.  Ms. Jane Smith.  She's either Mrs. John or Ms. Jane but never Mrs. Jane.
Clive  +  545519 Wed, 23 Jul 08 04:04 PM
Hi,
Are you getting this information from a book? Some of it seems very out of date and old-fashioned, yet 'Ms' is a relatively modern term.

Or perhaps these terms are used in this way in the area that you live in? If so,  may I ask where that is?

Best wishes, Clive
Clive
Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004
Canada
Veteran Member 29,657
El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo
Feebs11  +  545588 Wed, 23 Jul 08 07:47 PM
Properly, if a woman is divorced and chooses not to revert to her maiden name, or is widowed, she is Mrs  Jane Smith.
Feebs11
Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006
UK
Veteran Member 5,015
Clive  +  545595 Wed, 23 Jul 08 08:17 PM
Hi,
For the large numbers of still-married women who don't use 'Ms', the normal form today is 'Mrs. Jane Smith'.
 
It's been a long, long time since I heard a woman call herself 'Mrs. John Smith'. It sounds really old-fashioned to me, at least here in Canada. However, as I noted earlier today, possibly in some countries (eg India?) women still use this form. Perhaps the earlier poster will enlighten us.

Clive
Clive
Anonymous, 1 yr 12 days ago
thanks all of you for your explanations
Emmeladelyn  +  587326 Thu, 13 Nov 08 05:40 PM
I don't know if it's the case in most languages and cultures but this whole question is quite a delicate one:

'miss' means you're unmarried, but that generally means you're young so it's kind of embarrassing for some ladies to stay 'miss' into their old age, just because they've never married. Don't forget that for centuries getting married and having a family was practically a sign of succeeding in life for many women!
'ms' is relatively recent and is used to avoid giving detail on your marital status. You can be a 'Ms' at any age, even if you're married.
Emmeladelyn
Joined on Tue, Sep 9 2008
New Member 49
Anonymous, 336 days ago
Miss and Mrs are more traditional terms for addressing women, while Ms is a term brought forth in the 20th century by the feminist movement. For the sack of simplicity, Ms is basically the female form of Mr. It can be used by any woman of any age regardless of martial status.

Miss is generally used for unwed women, regardless of age, while Mrs indicates a women has been married before. As such, a widow would still be referred to as Mrs.

In today's modern society, referring to a woman as Mrs John Smith is still correct, but considered old fashion and rarely used. Referring to a married woman as Mrs Jane Smith is perfectly acceptable.
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