Ask Miss Thistlebottom: Towards or Toward?
Dear Miss Thistlebottom,
Is something wrong with the word “towards”? My editor keeps changing it to “toward.” I’m not married to “towards,” but I don’t see the point in the change.
—Backwards
Dear Backwards:
In a word, no. Like most editors, yours uses the dictionary as a prescriptive tool rather than a descriptive one. Look up toward in the Random House Webster’s, and you’ll find it appears first followed by “also towards.” The larger Webster’s Unabridged describes towards as “obsolete.”
The order in which the two variants appear suggests toward is preferred, and that’s why your editor industriously changes all your towards to toward.
When a term is considered so old-fashioned as to be obsolete, it may have a dialectic ring to it, rather like, say, “one or t’other.” In formal writing, you may wish to avoid a nonstandard effect. In fiction, poetry, or informal writing, however, you might usetowards for specific purposes, such as characterization or tone.
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