Standard American English is an ever-evolving entity, and experts disagree on many aspects of what is “correct,” and as a result, many of us use slightly different spellings for the same words. Dictionaries and textbooks vary when it comes to standards of usage, and it is often up to the writer to determine which rules of grammar to follow.
But when it comes to word choice, should you use toward or towards? Cannot or can not? If you’re like most writers, you turn to the dictionary and discover that towards is listed as a “variant,” which leads you to believe it is “nonstandard.” What does that mean? Is it correct or not? Does that help you to know how to spell it? Dictionaries list nonstandard words to indicate that they are commonly used but are not necessarily correct.