When writing, many people are confused about when to use toward vs. towards. Both words are correct and function as prepositions, but they vary slightly in meaning and usage.
The main difference is the presence or absence of an s at the end. You can usually use either spelling depending on your audience and style guide.
Grammar
When writing, it is important to be consistent. For example, if you use toward in one sentence, then you should also use it in the next. However, many people are confused about the difference between towards and toward. Despite the confusion, both words are correct and carry the same meaning. The difference between the two words is that towards is used more frequently in British English, while toward is used more frequently in American English.
Both words are prepositions, which show a connection between nouns or pronouns. Towards is an older spelling and comes from the Old English word toweard, while toward is a more recent spelling. The AP Stylebook suggests that writers should avoid using towards, but the Chicago Manual of Style accepts both toward and towards. The grammatical rules of English can be tricky, so it’s best to use a grammar report tool such as ProWritingAid to catch any errors that you might have missed.
Spelling
There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to toward vs. towards. First, these words are homophones, meaning they have the same pronunciation but different spellings. While this can be confusing, it is not a big deal in everyday writing. Most people are able to distinguish between the two.
The second thing to keep in mind is that both words have the same meaning. The only difference is that toward has an s at the end, while towards does not. This can be important if you are trying to adhere to a particular style guide. Generally, use toward if you are writing for a North American audience or following the AP Stylebook, and towards for British audiences.
Knowing when to use each of these spellings can help you avoid embarrassing grammatical errors. As always, it is best to be consistent throughout your writing. This will ensure that your readers understand your meaning.
Punctuation
As both towards and toward act as prepositions that mean in the direction of, they can be interchanged in casual writing. However, if you are writing for a certain audience or following a particular style guide, it is best to stick to the preferred spelling of your chosen language.
Towards is more common in the United Kingdom and Australia, while toward is the preferred spelling in North America. Despite these differences, both words have the same meaning.
As with many words in the English language, there are a number of editorial preferences and styles that vary by geography and nationality. For example, the Associated Press Stylebook recommends using towards, but Fowler’s suggests towards for British English and toward without an “s” for American English. It is important to stick to the preferred spelling of your own language in order to avoid embarrassing grammatical mistakes like this one. Thankfully, the Grammar Report from ProWritingAid can catch these pitfalls for you!
Style
As you might already know, there are a few words in the English language that have more than one correct spelling. This is true of several verbs (e.g., spell vs. spelt) and even some nouns (e.g., color vs. favor). But even prepositions are not immune from this phenomenon. That’s why we have both toward and towards, which mean the same thing: in the direction of.
However, there are some rules that dictate whether to use toward or towards in specific contexts. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style and AP Stylebook suggest using toward since it’s more common in American English. Meanwhile, British and Australian writers tend to prefer towards.
Ultimately, though, it all comes down to personal preference and which word sounds best in your ears. But just remember that using either word is perfectly acceptable as long as you are consistent throughout your writing. Ensure consistency with Grammarly’s free proofreading and editing tool, which can catch misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and other writing issues.