| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
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| § 56. -ward |
| The basic meaning of the suffix -ward is “having a particular direction or location.” Its use dates back to Old English. Thus inward means “directed or located inside.” Other examples are outward, forward, backward, upward, downward, earthward, homeward, northward, southward, eastward, and westward. The suffix -ward forms adjectives and adverbs. Adverbs ending in -ward can also end in -wards. Thus I stepped backward and I stepped backwards are both correct. Only backward (and not backwards) is an adjective: a backward glance. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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