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LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

Addressing People

There are several ways of addressing people in English. The most universal ones that can be used when speaking to strangers as well as to people you know are: Mr. – to a man, Mr. Brown; Mrs. – to a married woman, Mrs. Brown; Miss – to an unmarried woman, Miss Brown; Ms. – to a woman whose marital status in unknown (mostly used in the written form, Ms. Brown). Mr., Miss, etc. are never used without the person's second name.

Other forms of address are:

Sir – used to a man who is clearly older or more senior than oneself. Sir is also used:

1.By shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their male customers;

2.By schoolchildren to men-teachers;

3.In the armed forces, to an (a superior) officer;

me, please.

Madam – used by shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their female customers. Except for this type of situation, however, madam is less widely used than sir. It is not used when addressing women-teachers (here Mrs./Miss with the surname is used), nor when addressing an older or more senior woman. It is only rarely used to address a stranger. "Excuse me, please" is the usual form.

People who have a scientific degree – PhD, ScD – are to be addressed Dr., Doctor Brown, whereas medical practitioners, i.e., doctors who cure people are simply Doctors (no name is necessary). Professors can also be addressed by the title only.

You'd better use officer – addressing a policeman. If one knows his rank, one may also address him as, for example, Constable, or Inspector. In practice, however, most people approaching a policeman for information or help use Excuse me, (please), without any form of address.

People in certain occupations can be called Waiter / Waitress / Porter/ Nurse, etc. Commercial and administrative titles such as director, manager are never used as forms of address.