Ms vs. Ms.

[Konidis]

Mr., Mrs., Miss and Ms

I believe the correct use of Ms is without the period as it is not an abbreviation however I seem to be in the minority with this thinking. Can anyone give me the official ruling.

thanks,
CK

[Barb_D]

You won't find an official ruling because English does not have a governing body. However, more and more, you'll see Ms. look like Mr., both with periods in the US.

The AP Stylebook is one source that confirms this.

[Nessie]

Hi Barb,

First of all, I have the same question for 'vs' and other abbreviations - is it a rule that we must always add a period right after the abbreviations?

Next:

[Barb_D]

Nessie, as Yankee said in an earlier post, I'm American. I read a lot of British books, but I can't even pretend to know common UK practice. I know that they tend to use fewer periods (full stops) than we do, but you'll need to wait for a UK resident to come by to discuss this specific UK usage. If you are writing to someone in the US, however, use Mr. or Ms.

With vs. I would write versus in running text and vs. (with the period) in a chart or other abbreviated form. In discussing legal cases (in the US) it's v.

[Jeanstrang]

You use Ms. when you don't know a person, you know him/her through his/her name, you don't know his/her sex,etc.

[Jeanstrang]

You use Ms. when you don't know a person, you know him/her through his/her name, you don't know his/her sex,etc.

[Barb_D]

Sorry, Jeanstrang, but Ms. is ONLY for females.

[Nessie]

Hi Barb,
What did you mean by 'running text'? Do you mean you would use 'versus' when it is in a paragraph and just use 'v.' or 'vs.' in something like headlines or titles?

Many thanks,
Nessie.
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nessie,

In the UK, in most publications, contractions tend not to take a full stop. Thus you would see Mr, Mrs, and Ms (by analogy). However, I've noticed that where BrE publishing houses publish e.g. scientific works by US authors, sometimes the spelling and punctuation are not regularised into the house usage, and you'll find Mr., Dr., etc. (I presume that the author's own pdf has been adopted, in these cases.)

In business or private usage, the use of stops tends to be more frequent among older or infrequent writers. Secretarial courses for instance invariably advise you not to use stops.

However, I've noticed that some people who omit stops in typed correspondence will nonetheless include them on e.g. a handwritten envelope.

Best wishes,

MrP