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

Subject: Re: Backward(s), toward(s), forward(s)
From: "Christopher" <addforlist -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 13:50:45 +0100

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






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