Whenever I stumble upon the desire to use this word in a sentence, I never know which one is grammatically correct or if it dependson the content of the sentence.
I believe I’ve heard both, but I think I usually say “towards.”
They both mean the same thing, so they are used interchangeably. I think it’s just a matter of preference. I use ‘toward’ because it sounds cleaner to me.
Heathen!
Actually, the AP Stylebook specifies toward, so I use that.
But I’m in the States, and the AP is geared toward American usage. Brits are more likely to use towards.
Drats! The AP stylebook, the bane of my formal journalism education, rears her ugly mug once again. Touche. No wonder I say towards…
Towards is only a varient of toward.
The main listing in my dictionary is “toward.” “Towards” is listed as a variation.
The one online usage guide I’m familiar with says this:
*toward, towards: *interchangeable; toward is preferred. Be consistent. (Source.)
I have an immediate visceral revulsion toward towards, an artifact of far too many amateur choirs singing “peace on earth, good will towardssssesessses men”.
One distinction I seem to see people commonly make, apparently subconsciously, is that “toward” is almost consistently used for actual physical direction (“He walked toward town”; “She turned toward him with a shy smile on her face.”), while “towards” is used indiscriminately with “toward” when the meaning is more metaphorical or figurative: “Turn thy eye towards our need”; “The object of the law is to do justice toward(s) all men.”
Whether this is purely coincidental, the artefact of my experience turned from anecdote to “rule”, or an actual psychological use distinction, is something I’d be curious about.
Not nearly as interesting as the post immediately following
Per the Chicago Manual:
I say towards, perhaps because of the power of this poem.
According to the company I work for…(they have a book on this)
Toward, towards. Toward is preferred.
So there!