# Grammar usage questions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 23, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919 "2003-02-23T04:50:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/1 "2003-02-23T04:50:37Z")
What is the difference between the following?
aught/anything
naught/nothing
towards/toward
backwards/backward
With aught/naught, which of the two should be used at which times, and for toward/s and backward/s, which is correct?
---
### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/2 "2003-02-23T05:00:24Z")
Aught and naught are rarely used anymore. Towards and backwards are both wrong. It is toward and backward.
---
### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/3 "2003-02-23T05:05:18Z")
Oh, and I forgot to mention, aught is the same as anything, and naught is the same as nothing. The pairs are interchangeable. For example, “That had nothing to do with me” could be written as “That ha naught to do with me”.
---
### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/4 "2003-02-23T05:14:08Z")
Oh, and I forgot to mention, aught is the same as anything, and naught is the same as nothing. The pairs are interchangeable. For example, “That had nothing to do with me” could be written as “That ha naught to do with me”.
---
### Author:  [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/5 "2003-02-23T05:51:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \*
> \*\*Towards and backwards are both wrong. It is toward and backward. \*\*
Not necessarily. Both forms of each word are correct as adverbs but, in American English, _toward_ is preferred over _towards_ and _backwards_ is more commonly used than _backward_:
> [@](#):
>
> **The Suffix _-ward(s)_.** In AmE, the preferred practice is to use the _-ward_ form of directional words, as in _toward_, _forward_, and _westward_. Words ending in _-ward_ may be either adjectives or adverbs, whereas words ending in _-wards_, common in BrE, may be adverbs only. . . . Two exceptions in AmE are the adverbs _afterwards_ and _backwards_, which are almost universally used in preference to _afterward_ and _backward_. It’s anomalous that most people say _forward_ but _backwards_.
Bryan A. Garner, _A Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ 208 (1998), s.v. _directional words_.
---
### Author:  [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/6 "2003-02-23T18:35:29Z")
Well, thank you very much. :bows: I am unworthy.
---
### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/7 "2003-02-23T20:28:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brianmelendez \*
> \*\*Not necessarily. Both forms of each word are correct as adverbs but, in American English, _toward_ is preferred over _towards_ and _backwards_ is more commonly used than _backward_
>
> \
>
> Bryan A. Garner, _A Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ 208 (1998), s.v. _directional words_. \*\*
You’re too quick for me, **brian**. I had my copy of Garner’s book out and was looking at the _directional words_ entry when i saw your post.
Isn’t it a fantastic resource? Did you see the 15-page review of it that David Foster Wallace did in _Harper’s_ about 18 months back? That’s what made me buy the book, which i think should be on everyone’s bookshelf.
---
### Author:  [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-usage-questions/156919/8 "2003-02-23T23:21:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mhendo \*
> \*\*Isn’t it a fantastic resource? Did you see the 15-page review of it that David Foster Wallace did in _Harper’s_ about 18 months back? That’s what made me buy the book, which i think should be on everyone’s bookshelf. \*\*
I absolutely agree, **mhendo**. I also enjoyed David Foster Wallace’s article–I even saved it. I think that Bryan Garner is a genius, a worthy heir to H.W. Fowler. (BTW, the much-expanded second edition of _A Dictionary of Modern American Usage_ is due out later this year.)