What courtesy titles do you know? What other titles can you use to address a person you are writing to?

a) Surname known

If you know the surname of the person you are writing to, you write this on the first line of the address, preceded by a courtesy title and either the person's initial(s) or his/her first given name, e.g. Mr J.E. Smith or Mr John Smith, not Mr Smith.

Courtesy titles used in addresses are as follows:

Mr (with or without a full stop; pronounced ['mistq]) is the usual courtesy title for a man.

Mrs (with or without a full stop; pronounced ['misiz]) is used for a married woman.

Miss (pronounced [mis]) is used for an unmarried woman.

Ms (with or without a full stop; pronounced [miz] or [mqz]) is used for both married and unmarried women. Many women now prefer to be addressed by this title, and it is a useful form of address when you are not sure whether the woman you are writing to is married or not.

Messrs (with or without a full stop; pronounced ['mesqz]; abbreviation for Messieurs) is used occasionally for two or more men (Messrs P. Jones and B.L.Parker) but more commonly forms part of the name of a firm (Messrs Collier & Clerke & Co.).

There are a lot of special titles which could be included in addresses. They include academic or medical titles: Doctor (Dr.), Professor(Prof-); military titles: Captain (Capt.), Major (Maj.), Colonel (Col.), General (Gen.); aristocratic title: Sir (which means that he is a Knight; not to be confused with the salutation Dear Sir and always followed by a given name - Sir John Brown, not Sir J. Brown or Sir Brown), Dame, Lord, Baroness, etc.

Esq (with or without full stop; abbreviation for Esquire and pronounced [es'kwai ]) is seldom used now. If used, it can only be used instead of Mr and is placed after the name. Don't use Esq and Mr at the same time: Bruce Hill Esq, not Mr Bruce Hill Esq.

All these courtesy titles and special titles, except Esq, are also used in salutations.

What are the ways of addressing a letter? (when you know only a department, the company etc.)

a) Title known

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, you may know or be able to assume his/her title or position in the company, (e.g. The Sales Manager, The Finance Director), so that you can use it in the address.

b)Department known

Alternatively you can address your letter to a particular department of the company (e.g. The Sales Department, The Accounts Department).

c) Company only

Finally, if you know nothing about the company and do not want to make any assumptions about the person or department your letter should go to, you can simply address it to the company itself (e.g. SoundsonicLtd., Messrs Collier & Clerke & Co.).