What to use? Miss/Mrs?

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Pravinth

#274241 Fri, 29 Sep 06 07:19 PM

Hi Friends,

We call unmarried young lady with -Miss.name

Similarly married women with- Mrs.Name..

1.But if i don't know whether she is married or not-Then how to call them-i mean how to address them???

2.What is the difference between Misses and Mrs ???

Thanks -please help me to improve my english. Thank You!

Pravinth

Joined on Tue, Apr 4 2006

India

Junior Member (64)

Pravinth JavaSoul India

Difference between

Dominik

#274263 Fri, 29 Sep 06 07:40 PM

Hi,

Miss used in front of the family name of a woman who is not married to address her politely, to write to her, or to talk about her:
I'd like to make an appointment with Miss Taylor.

! Some unmarried women prefer to be addressed as Ms because it does not draw attention to whether or not they are married. Ms is also used in business English. Ms Murphy; Ms Jean Murphy.

Ms British English ; Ms. American English See pronunciation table in "How to use dictionary" pages

used before a woman's family name when she does not want to be called 'Mrs' or 'Miss', or when you do not know whether she is married or not:

Dear Ms Johnson, ...

(old-fashioned or formal) the Misses Hill

Regards
Dominik

Dominik

Joined on Thu, Jun 1 2006

Poland

Regular Member (568)

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Pravinth

#274273 Fri, 29 Sep 06 07:59 PM

I had this doubt for a long time.Now its clear.

Thanks Mr.Dominik !

Pravinth

Dominik

#274288 Fri, 29 Sep 06 08:30 PM

PS.
In my opinion you can't say Mr John or Ms Ann. Use Mr/Ms etc. before family name or before first name and family name:

Mr Smith is the headteacher.

Mr. John Smith

Mr and Mrs Smith

Dominik

Grammar Geek

#274301 Fri, 29 Sep 06 09:05 PM

I've never seen it spelled out, so I had to look it up, but Mrs. is Missus or Missis, according to Wikipedia. But to repeat, I have never seen it written out, so I don't recommend it (at least if you are writing to someone in the U.S. I don't know about the U.K.).

Misses sounds like two unmarried women: Misses Jane and Elizabeth Bennett.

Go with Ms or Ms. in any business situation.

(Also, in the U.S. South, Miss Ann or Miss Mary is a way to refer to an adult woman by a child (or by anyone if she is elderly but a family friend), regardles of her married state, but it sounds more like "Miz." My grandmother was "Miz Pearl" to many people around town.)