Towards/toward (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Amy West]

On 4/12/14, 12:05 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Fri, 11 Apr 2014 20:55:49 +0000
> From:    "Baker, John"<JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject: Re: Towards/toward (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> According to MWDEU, "Both words are commonly used in the U.S., but_toward_  is undoubtedly prevalent."  I see no basis for Wallace's claim that "towards" is an error in American English, although it seems informal to me.
>
>
> John Baker
DFW was a self-proclaimed prescriptivist. (Cf. "Tense Present" in
Harper's.) And we all know about prescriptivist rules: they ain't
necessarily so. So, I'm not really surprised about a) his claim and b)
the inaccuracy of it.

---Amy West

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