What is the plural of 'Mr' and 'Mrs'?

[Marc]

Hi Alan, Torsten,

In Michael Swan's 'Practical English Usage' , page 524, I read that you can say and/or write for example:

The courts martial (...or the court martials)
Mohters-in-law (...or mother-in-laws)
Tell me what you think, because in Dutch we always make a plural of the first part of the noun for example:

Secretaris-Generaal (=Secretary General in English) becomes Secretarissen-Generaal and not Secretaris- Generaals

But what is the plural of Mr and Mrs? Now, you know that I am a huge fan of 'Dynasty', and Joan Collins. Starring as Alexis Colby, I once heard her say: 'There are two Mrs Colbys, now'. I think this is correct, since 'There are to Mrses Colby' sounds so strange.

Bye, and sleep well tonight, for I probably won't :lol:
Marc

[Torsten]

Hi Marc,

I hope you had a good night despite the plural of Mr and Mrs.
Anyway, you are right — when you talk about two people with the same surname you add an «s» to the surname rather than the Mr or Mrs.
When you want to address a number of people with different surnames you simply say «Ladies and Gentlemen» or «Gentlemen».

TOEIC listening, question-response: Should I leave a voice mail if Ms. Dawkins is not there?

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

i just know the plural form of mr. is messrs. look crazy
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[Blue113]

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

sorry i'm just an 11 grade student in a non english speaking country so dont call me mister.
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[Jamie (K)]

Vietanhpham, in English speaking society you became "Mr." when you turned 12 years old.

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

I know it but to some extent, i'm a vietnamese, an asian so i dont want to be a mister before i could be financially independent.
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[Jamie (K)]

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

Oh yeah. Thanks. Which state are you in?
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Nothing's impossible! Never say never! They're what I've been following. Hope you to follow them too!

[Jamie (K)]

Michigan.

[Tylan]

I agree that "Ladies and Gentilmen"

[Jamie (K)]

You only say "Ladies and Gentlemen" when making an announcement to a crowd of people, over a loudspeaker, over the radio, etc.

[OxfordBlues]

Do yourself a favor and throw away that book. Swann once again proves he is an idiot who should never be allowed anywhere near an ESL classroom!

Only forms such as courts marshall, mothers-in-law, and secretaries general are correct. The others are always wrong.

As for Mr. and Mrs., years ago there were standard abbreviations for these, but they were based on French plural forms. They are no longer in active use and most people would be confused by their use. If use of these titles is desired, it is best to use the unabbreviated forms (Misters Johnson and Williams) and (Misses Ward and Greene).
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[Jamie (K)]

Sorry, OB, but that Messrs. isn't even close to dead yet. I still see it from time to time in mainstream publications, and it doesn't confuse anybody. In fact, I use it myself, and I even hear people refer in speech to men with that title, pronouncing it [mɛssrz]. In fact, if you Google "Misters" you only get about 700,000 hits, but you get more than 19 million for "Messrs."

"Misses Ward and Greene" is fine, but what do you do when you need a plural title for two married women? There isn't one.

By the way, Mr. is also based on an old French form, as is the word "Mister" itself, which is a contraction of "mon seigneur".

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

Alright, i agree with myself, jamie k and the majority. Oxfordblues i think you should read the book a practical english, an Oxford press. I'm a non english speaker, my country still speaks english as a foreign language but i'm quite sure bout what i'm saying. If no, i would ask the other for the correction.
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Nothing's impossible! Never say never! They're what I've been following. Hope you to follow them too!