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When to use Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms in formal treatment
When you learn a language, education is important. And much more than that, when to use some words and others, that is, in what context to apply each meaning. If you have any questions about how to use “mr, mrs, miss, and ms” this is your article. You will have no excuse to do it right!
Mr mrs miss ms, how do I know which one to use?
Dealing with someone you already know is not the same as dealing with someone you meet on the street. In each language there are some codes that we must learn and identify so as not to screw up when addressing people. In the case of “mr, mrs, miss and ms”, they are used in formal contexts and towards people to whom we owe respect.
Titles: mr mrs miss ms
In English they are called Titles. These are some abbreviations to refer to people we do not know, with respect:
Mr. / Mrs. / Miss. / Ms.
- →Mister
Mister or Mr refers to an adult male, regardless of his marital status. - →Misses
With this word we refer to married women. That is, a “ married woman ”. Its use is very traditional, although obviously it is time to renew itself in this aspect. You have to understand things in their context. And it is that before it was more usual or common for people to divide or distinguish their adult life between the stage of singleness and the stage of marriage. In any case, let's learn under these rules the theory about mr, mrs, miss and ms. - – Single woman
She would be our “Miss”. Quite obsolete, by the way. - → It is not an abbreviation / single woman
It began to be used in the 70s, as a parallelism to Mr., which is an abbreviation that is used both to refer to single and married women. Or if you don't know if the woman is married or single. In English: single woman.
What words are used with "mr, mrs, miss and ms"?
These abbreviations only accompany surnames. In English: last names.
- Is Mr Sánchez at home? – Is Mr. Sánchez at home?
That is, we cannot find them or say them with proper names. This sentence would be incorrect:
- Is Mr John at home?
- She is Mrs. Laura. She is married.
What do Sir and Ma'am mean?
As regards treatment of respect, we also have these two words. If, for example, you don't know someone's last name, but would like to address him or her in a respectful way, you can use Sir and Ma'am (Madame or Madam).
- Nice to meet you Ma'am. – Pleased to meet you, ma'am.
English abbreviations:
Shortening words is very common in English-speaking countries, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example. Let's think about how these two countries of the world refer to their own states: UK and USA. The truth is that they are two of the countries where words are shortened the most.
So it is convenient to learn to deal with the most important ones. The abbreviations we explain here, mr mrs miss ms, are essential. Remember that in English there is no mark of respect treatment in the verb. It is therefore important to show respect with these words that you have learned in this post.
