Another question for the Brits on the list

[Carol]

carol earlier:
> >
> > I'm editing a manuscript by a non-native English speaker who wants
to use British English but is making lots of errors, one of which is
referring to an unmarried teacher as Mrs Somebody. (Actually she
spells it the American way, "Mrs."). I'm wondering whether British
English uses "Ms" or whether unmarried women are always referred to as
"Miss," as they were in the U.S. before feminism came along.
> > 
> > Carol, who should have posted her request this morning and hopes
to get some quick, authoritative answers!
> 
> Geoff:
> First, I don't quite see your point about spelling "Mrs.' with the
full stop; that IS the UK way. I thought that "Mrs" and "Mr" were US
variants.

Carol:

Nope, not American! Both words are spelled with a period in U.S.
English. However, the British style guides I've encountered in my
editing projects now consider "Mr" and "Mrs" (no full stop) and
similar terms to be contractions because they end with the same letter
as the original word. I'm not making this up. Other apostropheless
"contractions" include "Dr" and "St". (whether that stands for "Saint"
or "Street" or both, I'm not sure.)

"Fowler's Modern English Usage," the best authority for British usage
that I have on hand, has the following entry: "Mr, Mrs  Now usually
spelled without the points." (I guess I should have said "point"
instead of "full stop" for a period other than one ending a sentence.
In the U.S., both are called periods.)

Fowler's (which I forgot to consult before posting my request) does
list "Ms" (with or without the "full point"--shouldn't that just be
"point"?) as an American invention "artificially introduced" in the
1950s and states that "when Ms is used the style to be followed is:
(on the envelope) Ms Fiona Jones: (at the beginning of a formal
letter) Dear Ms Jones."

So the British style is without the period, point, full point, or
whatever you want to call it, but Fowler's seems to regard "Ms" as an
invasive and artificial Americanism.

Geoff: 
> UK English uses "Ms" but, in a school situation,almost all pupils
would  probably say "Miss" unless they knew that the teacher was
married - and the teacher would still be addressed as "Miss" if her
name was not included. "Ms" has never widely caught on in casual
conversation as much as I believe it might have in the US.

Carol:
Thanks. That's the impression that I got from Fowler's, too. I pointed
out to the client that the teacher was unmarried, so "Mrs" (with or
without a period) is incorrect and suggested "Miss" instead.

Carol, who never cared for "Ms." either, except that it's handy when I
don't know a woman's marital status