Auntie "Grammar Nerd" Karen to the Rescue!

My niece Jen emailed me from her sophomore dorm digs with a double word usage question:

1. What’s the difference between “further” and “farther”?
2. How about “toward” and “towards”?

Here was my response:

1. Use farther for actual distances:

Adverb: He can throw the ball farther than I can.
Adjective: That farther target is the one I'm aiming for.

Use further for everything else:

Adjective: I'm awaiting further instructions from you.
Adverb: We were further delayed by a big traffic jam.

Here's a good trick: Try both, and if they both sound OK, use farther. Otherwise only further will work.

2. People who care about such things (like me!) say that toward is preferred by Americans and towards by Brits (also forward vs. forwards), but you wouldn't be "wrong" to use towards.

Comments

[mommyralf]

I think just plain "Auntie Grammar" has a nice ring. Someday you'll become "Gramma Grammar."

I have the same understanding of further/farther as you do.

Most people I hear use "towards," and I hate it. It's a waste of an "s." I think we always should do what we can do save our s's.

Ha ha.

[Karen]

Here in Boston, that would be "Gramma Gramma"! My Boston-bred friends are very vigilant about conserving their r's. Me, I don't have a Boston accent because I watched too much TV as a child.