Toward - towards

Writers sometimes ask "what is the difference between the two forms of the preposition toward and towards (with the '-s')?" The answer is in essence that writers of British English prefer towards for the preposition, while writers of American English prefer toward. For both varieties, the form toward is used for the adjective (see also Toward (adjective)).

Garner (2000) gives some advice that may help, under the sub-heading Misused for to: "Toward implies movement. It shouldn't be used when the sentence would be served by to or against - e.g.: "The parks and recreation department has no objections toward [read to] selling the West Suffield School" (Hartford Courant). Note, however, the academic usage of describing or titling an essay or paper as being 'Notes towards [or sometimes simply Towards] a definition of ... [a subject]', meaning 'a contribution towards study [etc]', or 'a starting-point, or staging post, along a long road of scholarly discovery'.