When I am writing emails, I prefer to use either Mr., Mrs., or Ms. when addressing the recipient's name. When I am addressing a woman, I may not always know their marital status and don't know whether to use "Mrs." or "Ms."
Assuming I have no way of knowing this person's marital status, should I use "Mrs." or "Ms."? Or is it a best practice to use neither?
"Ms." was popularized in the US to provide a form of address for women that is agnostic of married status. "Miss" means the person is unmarried and "Mrs." means that she is married.
"Ms." is generally considered acceptable for all women unless they have communicated another preference or have a more specialized title like "Dr."
I personally would not use Mr., Mrs. or Ms. and just use their full name or if they have a Doctorate degree, or are a doctor, Dr.
If you have to, just use Ms. regardless of marital status, just whatever you do, don't address a female spouse using the husband's name *eg "Mrs. John Doe." My mom absolutely hates it. Especially since she dislikes Ms. and Mrs. in favor of Dr.
When I am addressing a woman, I may not always know their marital status and don't know whether to use "Mrs." or "Ms."
If you don't know their marital status, you should use "Ms"
Because it is acceptable by all women. But "Mrs" is not.
In a friendly email, I would use Mrs. if I knew that they would like to be addressed as a Mrs. Otherwise, I'd use ms., as Mrs. could be seen as rude/disrespectful. Dr. is also an appropriate honorific.
In a business email context (eg. knowing first/last name of interviewer but have never met), generally, Ms. is fine.
When I write emails to women, I generally just use their first name, such as:
Good afternoon Myra,
It was good speaking with you today ...
But if I know if the person is married or not, I would write the prefix necessary.
As well - in the general scope, I think it's acceptable these days to address someone by their first name if you know them or have just met them. Using Mr or Mrs is great, but these days would be added flair. Respect has changed from years past. I think it's better to address people by their name, it let the people know that you took the time to remember who they were at face value.
Mr or Mister is great, but these days would be added flair. Respect has changed from years past. I think it's better to address people by their name, it let the people know that you took the time to remember who they were at face value.
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Jun 27, 2017 at 18:01
Only use a title or prefix if someone has already used it for themselves. If my child's teacher sends home a letter signed "Mrs. Crabapple", then I would address her in an email as "Mrs. Crabapple". It's much harder to offend people by referring to them the way they refer to themselves.
