# Toward and Towards



## Nath0811

What is the difference between toward and towards? I never know which one to pick! 

For example, do you say "I walk towards the door" - or toward?

Thanks!

<<Moderator Note:
This thread has been formed as a result of a merger, so it may appear a little strange at the joins.
The most recent addition begins at post #28>>


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## Eddie

Hi, Nath.

You can use either one; they're two different spellings for the same idea.

Source: http://www.onelook.com/?loc=pub&w=toward


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## Nath0811

Wow Thanks. I really had no idea that there's no rule as to which you use.


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## JLanguage

Is it a matter of personal preference? I personally never use _toward_, but it seems that that is the more common form.

Thanks,
-Jonathan.


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## Diablo919

Where I am, "toward" is used alot more.

Also, they are pronunciated differently.

"Tor-werd" and "Twards"


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## JLanguage

Diablo919 said:
			
		

> Where I am, "toward" is used alot more.
> 
> Also, they are pronunciated differently.
> 
> "Tor-werd" and "Twards"



When I say towards it almost sounds like tords. Toward sounds the same way except without the s.


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## Brioche

I'd say that in Australia 'towards' is much more usual.

It's the form I always use.


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## panjandrum

Now I've begun to think and I haven't a clue what I normally use..... pitter patter..search.. patter pitter - yes, I use *towards*.  I can begin now.

As a *towards* person, myself, I thought I'd better look for some reference source before replying.

According to New Fowler's Modern English Usage, *toward* is the more usual form in AE, *towards* in BE - although it acknowledges this to be a very general comment.

I also checked the British National Corpus and found that *towards* outnumbers *toward* by about 25:1.


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## Isotta

I am a _towards_ person as well, though _toward_ is considered the only acceptable standard by the AP Style Guide (AE). I know this because I was corrected once when I was an editor at the university newspaper. In formal papers in America, however, you could choose either one, and no one would correct you, unless they are operating from a certain not well-recognised American style guide.

Isotta.


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## VenusEnvy

This page  is interesting...

If I think hard about it, I use _towards _ more often. I have no idea why, though. Maybe I'm greedy, and want an extra letter. ??


Nonetheless, I pronounce the exact same way (barring the extra s).


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## Mei

Isotta said:
			
		

> I am a _towards_ person
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Forgive me but I looked for "towards" and I don't understand what is a towards person?
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Mei
Click to expand...


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## panjandrum

Mei said:
			
		

> Forgive me but I looked for "towards" and I don't understand what is a towards person?


Oh dear, I am the source of this confusion. 



			
				panjandrum said:
			
		

> As a *towards* person, myself, I thought I'd better look for some reference source before replying.


 Some people will use *toward*, others will use *towards*. There are regional variations and national variations.

I am a *towards* person ...

...means that I use *towards*, not *toward*.

I would say "The boat is moving *towards* the harbour," not "The boat is moving *toward* the harbour."

Please do not use "I am a *towards* person" in normal conversation


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## Mei

panjandrum said:
			
		

> Oh dear, I am the source of this confusion.
> 
> Some people will use *toward*, others will use *towards*. There are regional variations and national variations.
> 
> I am a *towards* person ...
> 
> ...means that I use *towards*, not *toward*.
> 
> I would say "The boat is moving *towards* the harbour," not "The boat is moving *toward* the harbour."
> 
> Please do not use "I am a *towards* person" in normal conversation


 
Silly me!!!!! I was look for it in different dictionarys and I didn't find it! Of course!  

Ok, now that I know it I'll just shut up and read!

Thank you.  

Mei


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## cuchuflete

I veer toward the right for some constructions, and towards a point to the left for others.  Not yet sure why or when, but I think it has something to do with choosing the easiest sound combinations about which to wrap my tongue.  

Not very well pondered thought:  could I unconsciously try to avoid
*rds* before a *t* and perhaps other letters?  Towards thistle thickets. Toward temporary thickness?   Hmmm...still haven't figured out what I do, much less why.  

Toward*s *seems prevalent for me.  

ciao,
Cuchu

PS- Why does nobody cite the famous UPI style guide any more?  Did it get left on the Railway Express truck dropping things off at the Eastern Airlines Counter?    _Sic gloria transit_


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## GenJen54

I actually had to do a document search of items I have written over the past year since my brain simply would not wrap itself around one preference.

Alas, of fifty-nine total results returned with either "towards" or "toward," fifty-seven favoured the BE "s" model _toward*s*_. Perhaps I have just perceived this form as more formal for writing. Based upon this conclusion, I would say I definitely lean *towards towards*, at least in written work. 

I agree with cuchu, however. Choice of one over the other (conscious or sub-conscious) could be based upon particular sound combinations. 

Case in point, my pithy comment highlighted in green, above. In speaking, "toward towards" is much easier to pronounce than is "towards towards." 

It's that multiple-consonant thing that I believe has been brought up in a past thread. (of course, I cannot remember what that was, either....sigh.)


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## Kate_bb

Is it possible that toward is more general than towards?

It "came" to me from chuchu's message: "I veer toward the right for some constructions, and towards a point to the left for others"

It could be that "toward the right" is a more general direction than "towards a [specific] point...", which is a very specific "point"

I dare say that it did not come from any dictionaries, just an instinct...nevertheless, what do you all think?

Please don't laugh too hard  

Kate


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## You little ripper!

"Towards" has a softer sound at the end than does "toward" which is the reason I favor it.  Like Cuchuflete and GenJen54 the word that comes after it also has a lot to do with which one I use.


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## river

_Toward_ is more common and is preferred in formal academic prose, but there's nothing wrong with either. You'll find _towards_ more common in British and Canadian writing. Let your ear be your guide.Authority: _Quick Access: Reference for Writers_ by Lynn Quitman Troyka. Simon & Schuster: New York. 1995.


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## bartonig

There's a little group of words like toward(s): backward, forward, upward, downward, outward, inward, sideward ...

I'd say, in Britain, if used adverbially we include the _s _but otherwise exclude it. For example:

_It goes forwards and backwards.
Let's move towards town._

But,

_He's backward.
It's an upward swing._


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## nikvin

well yes, Bartonig, I´d agree re adverbial use of the others, but I would *never* use toward,always towards. On hearing it, if said by AE speaker, then it would sound odd, but _ok _ if said by a BE speaker, then it would just sound *awful*.


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## river

Either _toward_ or _towards_ is correct, although the _toward_ is preferred in formal, academic prose. I would use _toward_ unless your ear tells you otherwise; consistency is important, however. The British, I believe, lean untowardly toward towards.


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## Gaijin

Hi there! This is my first post in this forum 

I have always wondered about this "toward" / "towards" issue and I am glad I came upon this thread to clarify it.

I don't know if it is any good an indication to you, but I Googled both words and it returned the following results:

- toward:  284,000,000 results
- towards: 226,000,000 results 

That's about 25% less for "towards" than "toward"... So "toward" is the Internet way to go - but then again, the Internet is very much US-dominated so it may not be that relevant.


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## panjandrum

Welcome to WR, Gaijin.
I just did the same comparison on Google but restricting the search to UK sites, 31.6million for towards, 4.6million for toward.  Further confirmation for the AE/BE distinction


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## maxiogee

I'm not sure that I've ever really thought about this distinction. Chambers irritatingly gives 'towards' as the first definition of *toward*, but has no separate entry for towards!

I think I would use toward in reference to stationary direction - the house faced toward the sea, but would use towards for movement - he drove towards the city.


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## andersxman

I think that I, when I speak English, always say TOWARD*S*, that is with an* "S"* in the end, when using the word as it is used below. Is this wholly uncorrect?

_The European Commission and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are proposing to EU leaders to work *toward *an overall energy deal with Moscow, but their new joint paper on external energy policy also says it is vital to promote pipelines bypassing Russia_


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## petereid

I would certainly use "towards" in the above context.
Modern english usage almost always uses "towards" as a prepostion. Especially when it has a directional context.  
There is an unrelated adjective meaning "ready, or prepared  to learn" but I've not heard it in use.


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## river

_Toward_ and _towards_ are are both correct; use whichever sounds better to you.


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## kota

I wrote my thesis and had it edited by somebody. There were not many corrections but one thing stands out. He told me to choose between ‘towards’ and ‘toward’ and advised me to use only one as according to him they meant the same thing. I cannot forget the experience as I’ve actually paid $40 to learn this ‘new’ thing.

   In school, I’ve learned that the first is used for direction and the second is also used for direction but involves some attitude or behavior to a person. This is the difference.

   Now, which is which?


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## yayoo60

Thank you for posting this question, I'm waiting with much impatience to read an answer to this, because I have never understood the difference between the two.


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## lovely_idiot

Great thanks to all of you guys 

I was about to post a comment on YouTube and started to wondering like many times before. I tend to stick to British way when it comes to written English, especially for formal and academic writing. Also, my English teachers used to be English or Australian so that I saw "towards" all the time. Now, I am starting to see more and more "toward". People around can't help me to clarify this as they're confused too 

Thanks, again


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## panjandrum

The earlier posts in this thread suggest strongly that there is no difference in meaning, only a difference in where each is preferred.
The OED links the definitions of _towards _with equivalent definitions of _toward_, but not the other way round.  The dates of the examples in the OED indicate that _toward _is the older of the two.
This is consistent with the identified AE/BE split.  AE speakers have retained the older form, _toward_, while BE has adopted _towards_.


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## JoanTaber

"Toward" is Standard American English. "Towards" is Standart British English.


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## bennymix

http://grammarist.com/spelling/toward-towards/


> Some people differentiate the two words in various ways, but these preferences are not borne out in the usage of most English speakers. Neither form is more formal or informal or more or less logical than the other (the Oxford English Dictionary says towards is more colloquial in British English, but we see no evidence that this is true in 21st-century British writing), so you’re safe using the one that sounds better to you.





> U.K. and Australian writers heavily favor towards, by a ratio of about 10 to 1. For example, these news organizations use towards much more often than toward:
> 
> Libyan rebels advanced west towards Tripoli today after seeing off yet more airstrikes on captured cities by an increasingly desperate Colonel Gaddafi. [Daily Mail]


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## bbsn

Dear all,

Please allow me to share my views on 'Toward' and 'Towards'.

I feel that it is somewhat related to Present Simple Rules.

Present Simple Rules:

Whenever one uses 'He/She/It' the word that follows will be ending with either 's' or 'es'

E.g. 'Find': He find*s* it simple to do.
      'Search: He always search*es* his pen at the last moment.

Similarly, Whenever one uses 'You/We/They/I' the word that follows will not be ending with either 's' or 'es'

E.g. 'Sing': Paul and Debra always sing (note: No 's' or 'es' at the end of the word 'sing') well!

Based on the above rules, may I say:

*He / She / It* (cat) starts walking *towards* the tree.
*You/ We/ They / I* start walking *toward* the tree.

Please Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you.
BBSN


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## panjandrum

bbsn said:


> ...
> 
> Based on the above rules, may I say:
> 
> *He / She / It* (cat) starts walking *towards* the tree.
> *You/ We/ They / I* start walking *toward* the tree.
> 
> Please Correct me if I'm wrong.
> 
> Thank you.
> BBSN


Do you have any evidence of the distinction you suggest?
The earlier posts in this thread put forward a general AE/BE distinction, with each of us consistently using one or the other, not mixing usage.


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## Enquiring Mind

Hello BBSN, nice theory but, I'm afraid to say (with all due respect, and in the nicest possible way ), a total red herring. You can, of course, say those two versions you suggested in those contexts, but the suggestion that the present tense verb endings should, could, or might serve as a guide for the spelling of a preposition is fanciful.

Nice try though!


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## kota

BBSN,

The rule you are talking about applies to verbs. Be careful of mouthing rules you are not sure of. If I were you, I would make sure I know my parts of speech first.


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## bbsn

Thank you all for commenting on my view.

Dear Mr./Ms. Panjandrum, I just tried answering in an angle, which is just an experiment. I would like to tell you that I don't have any evidence to support my statements. But used the Rules for Present Simple from the Book entitled "Essential English Grammar" (Cambridge Univ.,), by Mr. Raymond Murphy. Thank you for your feedback.

Next, my reply for Mr./Ms. Enquiring Mind. Well, I just tried to answer , which I felt could be correct. But I do understand that my answer could have made you angry or atleast feel rediculous. But, the way you expressed your opinion was great. Please accept my thanks for your Kind (really kind) feedback.

Next, I would like to reply to the issue brought forward by Mr./Ms. Kota. I must admit that what you say true. I just made a try. If that has offended you in someway, I apologize to you. Thank you for your feedback too.

Thank you all.
BBSN


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## bennymix

Hi bbsn,
Theoretically, there may be something to what you say.   MAYBE speakers adjust *s*'s in the way you suggest.   Or some speakers do.    This is some kind of euphony argument.

On the other hand, the cold hard facts, I think-- with all due respect-- are as Enquiring says.


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## JulianStuart

Old thread but I am interested in pronunciation. I know about the one syllable versus two and various vowels but I heard yesterday* a new version  In forward, westward, homeward, backward etc. (and their -s forms) the stress is on the first syllable and the ward becomes something like wərd (or wəd in non-rhotic).  However, most of the two syllable versions of toward(s) seem to have the stress on the second syllable with the to frequently going to tə- . What I heard yesterday was new and it followed the "backward/forward stress pattern" but sounded odd : *TOO-əd*.  Have I just not been paying attention or is this a rare version?

*I don't recall the speaker's name but it was about how light is bent toward (and all the way round if it gets close enough  ) a black hole.


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## bennymix

I've never heard a first syllable "too" stressed by a native speaker.  I agree with you:  odd.


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