Comments on: Running “Toward” the House, or “Towards” the House?

By: jjhausman

jjhausman — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:56:38 +0000

As long as the reader understands what you’re trying to say, what does it matter, the sultry little nuances of grammar? I come from the school where rules are made to be broken, where language is constantly in flux (from Old English to Middle English to current form). Good to have a standard, sure, but how do scholars explain regional dialects? Language isn’t written with a ruler and compass. It’s not a mathematical equation. It’s closer to a seance. Anything goes, even speaking in tongues, as long as the reader gets moved.

By: Ann Barnidge

Ann Barnidge — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 14:15:29 +0000

Chris, your clarification on the British uses of “toward” and “towards” is very interesting and informative, and soothes my frazzled nerves over the use of “towards” by our friends on your isle. However, I will stick with proper American English and continue to cringe every time one of my fellow countrymen uses it!

By: Chris Colton

Chris Colton — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:43:57 +0000

Please forgive the typographical errors in my previous submission..!

By: Chris Colton

Chris Colton — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:42:00 +0000

This thread emphasises the English/American divide. I have just discoverd this web site and am fascinated. As a very experienced editor of English texts, I have come to rwalise that my native language, English English, is so very different from the tongue of my transatlantic friends. May I be permitted to intrude into your American conversation and interpolate an English viewpoint?
Towards implies direction and is a preposition
Toward is an adjective meaning appropriate, or acceptable – opposite is untoward.
That is the English orthodoxy, albeit misundrstood in America.
Another example is forwards, versus forward: the former is a directional preposition, the latter is an adjective meaning precocious, or self-
promoting.

By: Sean Lewis

Sean Lewis — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:13:51 +0000

I’m with Joe above, and what I’ve read here on the topic of toward/towards has rocked my world — and I fear I may not be able to sleep tonight. I have always thought that “towards” was simply a result of some uneducated wrinkle developing in the pronunciation and use of the word “toward.” Why on earth would an s ever need to be added to this perfectly well-functioning word to begin with? Can we also add an s to countless other prepositions like to, over, through, above and along??? Why wouldn’t we? As Joe implies (I think), there isn’t much reason to have an “either way goes” approach to this, at least in my book (which I have yet to write). Aside from any historical development of the word “towards” — and heck, even if it does help to legitimize the word’s use — “towards” is just an annoyance to me and will never ever seem correct — when the word “toward” does the just quite sufficiently, thank you. Time for my pill….