Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I shouldn't start threads at 2:30am, I can see that I left things a little unclear. My main concern is about mixing the forms - using both forward and forwards in my text (and various other *ward/s combinations), I wasn't really talking about placing towards and forwards together (in fact the example given by crich70 shows pretty much the sort of thing that I've needed to correct - there is no need to say he went forwards to the front).
This sentence: "I look forward to meeting her."
sounds better to me than: "I look forwards to meeting her."
But this: "Moving forwards was easier."
sounds better to me than: "Moving forward was easier."
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In American English:
First of all, although toward and towards are identical words in sense of meaning, forward and forwards are not -- they can have different meanings and different purposes.
Second, toward does not need forward unless direction is necessary. If you need to ensure that the reader understands that the actor is moving forward and not backward, then "forward toward" is OK. Generally, however, forward is inferred and most readers would find forward toward awkward.
Third, forwards has the sense of sending forth, and is not truly a directional usage. Thus "Jim forwards the package to Bill" and not "Jim forward the package to Bill". In your sentence "I look forward to meeting her," you are using forward as a substitute for something like "with great anticipation" or "am excited" (yes, to use the alternate phrases you would have to rewrite the sentence, not just substitute); you are not using forward in the sense of "sending something forth".
Finally, in AmE the preference is toward and forward, but backwards. Also, in AmE, these words can be either adverbs or adjectives.
In contrast, in British English, the preference is towards and forwards when using these terms in the directional sense. In BrE, these words can only be adverbs.