When to use Miss, Ms., or Mrs. in a formal email?

Alright, so I need to email a lady back about an internship. It's a formal letter, so I don't want to address her by her first name.








I don't know if she is single, or married, or what.





Let's say her name is Stacy Jenkins.





So, would i use Mrs., Ms., or Miss Jenkins to reply to the email.





I know Miss is used if you're single, Mrs. if you're married, and Ms. if you're divorced, or a widow, but what if you don't know. Then which one do you use.





thanks


- Mikey.
When to use Miss, Ms., or Mrs. in a formal email?
Miss when single, Mrs. when married, and Ms. when you don't know
Reply:Ms. is used by a wider group - not only divorced or widowed women, both of whom can still use Mrs. if they wish.





Ms. is the more neutral option - it came into wide use as a corresponding term for Mr. (the male term, which does not change according to the marital status).





So in business, using Ms. is always safe %26amp; politically acceptable, unless your correspondent has signed her letter/email using Miss or Mrs. You don't have that situation, but in that case she has indicated her preferred form of address and you should use it.
Reply:In this instance, because you don't know, you would use Ms.





Ms. is the appropriate title for any woman when you do not know her marital status. In all instances, Ms. can be considered the formal and appropriate courtesy title when referring to a woman individually.





As a former journalist, it was what our newspaper always used in place of the first name on second and subsequent references to a woman, regardless of her marital status. If she had a higher degree, for example, Dr., that title was given in the first reference, and on subsequent references, Ms. was used.





Mrs. should always be used when you are referring to a man and wife together, as long as they have the same last name. If she kept her own last name or has a hyphenated last-name, her preferences may be different.





I would avoid the use of Miss altogether in any form of formal correspondance, unless I was addressing formal correspondance to someone very young (probably under the age of 16).





As for widows, it is their preference as to the courtesy title that is used. Some prefer to keep Mrs., and that is not wrong. However, if you knew someone was widowed and did not know their personal preferences, Ms. is absolutely appropriate.
Reply:If you don't know, use Ms.





If she's unmarried, she may prefer miss or ms. If she's married, she may prefer mrs or ms. In either case, it's up to the personal preference, but Ms.is nicely safe if you don't know.
Reply:I would use Ms., that covers everything
Reply:Does she have a different title/ If so refer to her by that ( ie Mr President, or Lieutenant)
Reply:Ms.


Ms. is also used to keep things personal like if she is married.
Reply:Ms. is used when you dont know.