Re: Backward(s), toward(s), forward(s)

["Christopher" <addforlist -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

I agree with the comment that this is a dialectical thing:

I speak and write British English and prefer having an s (so backwards,
towards etc) at the end in all cases. This is just my dialect.

Before I came to this job, I worked for an American newswire agency where I
had to get into the habit of removing my s when writing 'toward' or
whatever. Both a Canadian and an American commented on the s I had naturally
(for me) put in when they checked what I had written.

For me the dictionary is right - there is no difference in sense...

Just my two pence (!?!) worth.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark L. Levinson <markl -at- gilian -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 11:17 AM
Subject: Backward(s), toward(s), forward(s)


> Traci writes:
> I always thought backward versus backwards followed the
> same rule as toward versus towards.  When there is actual
> physical movement, you add the "s", and when it is just in
> the figurative sense, it is without the "s".
>
>   ** That's a new one on me, though it does recall
>      the "farther/further" distinction..
>
>      American Heritage says:
>        Some critics have tried to discern a semantic
>        distinction between _toward_ and _towards_, but the
>        difference is entirely dialectal. _Toward_ is more
>         common in American English; _towards_ is the predominant
>        form in British English.
>
>      It defines "forwards" as "To or tending to the front;
>      forward," and of "backward/backwards" it says  that
>      as adverbs "the forms are interchangeable."
>
> Mark L. Levinson
> MarkL -at- Gilian -dot- Com