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  #1 (permalink)  
Unread Jan 30th, 2005, 01:23 am
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Default toward or towards

anyone have any insight on when to use toward and when to use towards?

Thanks
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Unread Feb 1st, 2005, 06:05 am
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Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=toward

Quote:
Usage Note: 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.
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  #3 (permalink)  
Unread Feb 2nd, 2005, 08:37 am
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Hi,

I just checked dictionary.com to find out if there is a difference, and toward and towards are listed as variants of each other, so interchangeable I suppose. But I thought the quote you pasted was funny because I was thinking "I doubt I would ever use towards, that sounds crass".

Though I'm from Canada, I would have guessed it was slangy (North) American English that would use the, in my mind, crasser-sounding "towards". I think I have been away from home so long I don't remember which words I would actually use in regular conversation

I'll check the Collins and the Oxford dictionaries at school tomorrow on usage.
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Unread Mar 31st, 2006, 12:10 pm
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Default Re: toward or towards

Interesting, little sage...I'm Canadian as well, and I find that I use the word "towards". It makes me wonder why. Is it because Canada was once a British colony, or because my mom is English? lol
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  #5 (permalink)  
Unread Apr 21st, 2010, 10:08 am
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Default Re: toward or towards

This makes amusing reading...

As a Brit, I think exactly the same about TOWARD!

My student asked me for the difference and all I could say was "I only ever use towards, but I'll look into it for you!"

Now I know! Thanks!
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  #6 (permalink)  
Unread Apr 30th, 2010, 02:25 am
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Default Re: toward or towards

I thought there was a grammatical rule to this. I never really found out until now that there's none.
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