How to use Mr., Mrs., Ms and Miss

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Today we are going to talk about names again.  As I mentioned in a previous post, When a woman gets married she typically starts using her husbands family name as her last name.  But she also changes from a Miss to a Mrs. 


Mr., Mrs., Ms and Miss are all formal forms of address used in the United States. 

Mr. is used for males whether they are married or unmarried. 

Mrs. is for females that are married.

Miss is for females that are not married.

And Ms is used by females who want to use a title similar to males that doesn't show if they are married or not.  It can also be used when you don't know the marital status of a female that you need to address in a formal way.

Some examples, Miss Jane Black and Mr. John Smith get married.  Miss Jane Black now becomes Mrs. Jane Smith.  And we now call them Mr. and Mrs. John Smith.

Children or young adults use Mr. or Mrs. followed by the person's last name when addressing someone older and in a position of respect.  So, if Jane Smith was a teacher, her students would call her Mrs. Smith. 

We also use these titles in certain  situations to show respect and good manners.  So, when we want to be polite use Mr., Mrs., Ms, or Miss followed by the persons last name until the other person invites you to use a less formal way of addressing them. 

For example, you meet your new boss. 
You say: Hello, Mr. Jackson, it's nice to meet you. 
Your Boss says: Please, call me Bob. 
You are now free to use his first name when you address him.

We also, use these titles when we address envelopes such as Wedding Invitations.  In this case we would use the title, the first name and the last name or for a married couple we would use Mr. and Mrs. husbands first name and last name. 
For example, Miss Anne Reynoldsor Mr. and Mrs. Henry Johnson.

One more title that I forgot to mention is Dr. This stands for doctor and it is used in place of Mr., Mrs., Ms or Miss if the person is a medical doctor or in some cases if they are a Ph.d. Although Ph.ds don't always use the Dr. for their name. So, if Henry Johnson is a doctor we would call him Dr. Johnson.  And if we invited him and his wife to our wedding we would write Dr. and Mrs. Johnson on the envelope.

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com