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

["Nickell Traduction" <nickelltrad -at- autoroute -dot- net>]

It's quite possible it's just a dialect thing.  Fowler's does accept both.
I just go by what is considered acceptable by the majority of books.  About
eight years ago, I picked certain grammar points and went through about
recognized 30 style and grammar books from Canada, the USA and Britain.  I
chose what the majority use and stick to that, so when I get a client coming
back, disagreeing about something I put, even though both are correct, I can
send pages from five or more style books instead of just one.

Granted, majority rule is not always correct.  More people than not say and
write "good" when they mean "well", at least in North America, but that does
not make it right.  For me, though, when it comes to style and grammar, even
though there are sometimes many ways to do something, I prefer to stick to
what the majority of the "experts" recommend.  However, when I revise
others, for the mostpart, if I see they do something differently, but it's
still correct (unless I feel that they are using a way that is correct, but
not as known - then I'll suggest another way), I don't change it.

Traci
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher <addforlist -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2000 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: Backward(s), toward(s), forward(s)


|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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