Address of person you are writing

[SassyL8dy]

How do you format the address section of the person you are writing if there are two people of a business nature?

Example: Mr. John Doe Ms. Jane Smith

[Anglika]

Mr John Doe and Ms Jane Smith,

[zaed_salah]

I found a problem when writing to person who I don't know whether is male or female;
For Example : I want to write to someone called Jo Smith, Jo; it could be male or female , so, how I format the address!!??

[Anglika]

You can do one of two things:

Either address is to Mr. J. Smith and if the person is a woman, she will soon correct you.

Or address it to Jo Smith.

However, "Jo" is usually an abbreviation for Josephine [female], whereas "Joe" is the abbreviation for Joseph [male]

[zaed_salah]

I just give it as an example, but, I am afraid there will be few situations where I can not know if I am addressing to is male or female. Furthermore, as I am not native speaker, I can not predict the person reaction if I made a mistake and addressed him wrongly.Also,it will sound that I haven't enough information about him /her.For business I don't think it looks good.

[Anglika]

That is true for anyone in business.

Either you address the person as Mr and wait for a reaction, or you contact the company reception or switchboard and ask them to tell you: "Good morning, I have to send a letter to xxxxx. Could you tell me if it is Mr xxxx or Ms xxxx?"