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Which of the following sentences is correct?

1. He began to move toward his dream.
2. He began to move towards his dream.

If you said the second sentence is correct, you’re right. If you said the first sentence is correct, you’re even more right.

Both “toward” and “towards” are technically correct, according to most English language stylebooks. The difference is, “towards” is more likely to be used these days by the Brits, while “toward” has become the American favorite.

The Associated Press Stylebook, which most American businesses and publications use, takes a distinctly American stance, saying simply, “toward, not towards.” In short, according to AP, “towards” is dead.

So if you’re an American, or gravitate to the American English way of life, you’re safer to bury “towards.” Say a few kind words over its grave and move on. If you’re British, or believe that the Queen’s English is the only true and living form of the world’s most robust language, go ahead and use “towards.”

It’s not worth another revolution.

PS. Take your writing skills to a new level. Check out the real-world writing e-books now available for immediate download. Click here.

When you write, do you use a keyboard or a pen? Or do you use both for different types of writing?

As a fulltime freelance writer, I have to produce text as quickly and efficiently as possible. That text has to be in digital format for e-mailing and publication. The day I purchased my first personal computer in the ’80s I stopped using pen and paper (even though the $4,000 Victor I bought had no hard drive and less processing power than a modern cell phone). On the rare occasions when I had to handwrite something, I realized that my penmanship ability had atrophied. Writing by hand had become painfully slow, gave me hand cramps and resulted in undecipherable hieroglyphics.

A couple of years ago I decided to get serious about keeping a journal. I began by using my computer. But when I traveled I took a notebook and pen. It was torture at first, but soon my hand began to adapt. More and more of the words I wrote actually looked like words. Then I discovered a notebook I fell in love with: Moleskine. I also found a type of pen that was a pleasure to use. It wasn’t long before I began to relish the time I spent writing in my notebook with my gel pen. It has become a sensuous experience (laugh if you will, but I swear it is) and one I look forward to everyday – sometimes several times a day. The notebook and pen are portable, lightweight, don’t have to be plugged in, don’t run out of batteries and don’t crash or get viruses.

For my “work” writing, however, I continue to put my fingers to the keyboard. Don’t get me wrong – using a computer is not an unpleasant experience for me. I enjoy it, but in a different way. It’s fast, precise and much more flexible in terms of making changes and revisions.

You might say I’m torn between two lovers and each has its place in my life. I spend 95 percent of my time with the keyboard getting things done and the other 5 percent luxuriating with my pen and Moleskine.

I have a friend who writes books and film scripts. He writes everything by hand and refuses to use a computer until he has to prepare a final manuscript for submission. He says the computer inserts a layer of technology between him and his work that stifles his creativity.

What about you? Do you use a keyboard, a pen, or both? If both, when do you use one and when do you use the other? If you use a pen, what type of notebook or paper and writing instrument do you use? Let’s get a discussion going about writing tools. Please submit a comment. I’d like to hear from you.

Special Note: Send Me Your Problems!

Some of you have asked if I could help you with specific writing issues. My answer is yes. Send me a comment with a piece of text you have written (nothing too long, please) and tell me what has you stumped or doesn’t seem right. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of it and we’ll invite others to comment with their ideas or suggestions. Let’s make this a valuable, interactive learning experience. To contact me, click here.

Is the following sentence correct?

This book is well written.

Yes? You’re right. It’s perfectly correct. No broken rules there. Now check out the following sentence. Is it correct, too?

This is a well written book.

No, it is not correct. But why? It’s basically the same sentence as the first, except that the phrase “well written” comes before “book” rather than after it. But that is precisely what makes the difference. Here’s the rule:

• Hyphenate the elements of a compound modifier only if that modifier precedes the noun.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I read a grammar rule like that, it takes me back to public school days when well-meaning English teachers crammed our minds with undecipherable rules. “What in the world is a compound modifier?” I should have asked. But of course I didn’t because the bedazzling Priscilla Price sat right next to me. It’s not that I didn’t want her to think I didn’t know what a compound modifier was. No one knew. It’s just that I didn’t want her to think I cared what a compound modifier was. That would not be cool.

But I assume you care because you’re reading this, and you’re not ashamed of caring. So let me explain. A modifier is a word or phrase that describes another word. Modifiers can be adjectives or adverbs, but for our purposes, that doesn’t matter. So if you say, “That’s an adjective,” or “That’s an adverb,” I’m happy for you, but I really don’t care.

A compound modifier is a modifier made of more than one word. That’s why it’s called a “compound” modifier.

So, what the rule says is that if the compound modifier comes before the noun it modifies, hyphenate it. But if it comes after the noun, don’t hyphenate it. On that basis, the sentences we grappled with earlier should be written as follows:

This book is well written. (The compound modifier comes after the noun, so no hyphen.)

This is a well-written book. (The compound modifier comes before the noun, so it gets a hyphen.)

Who comes up with these rules and why? No one knows for sure, but I have a personal theory that a group of Nazi war criminals eluded capture, went underground and decided that creating rules like this would be the most cruel thing they could do to the guys who beat them in WWII.

It gets worse. Look at the next sentence. Is it correct?

This is a beautifully-written book.

I hate to tell you, but it is not correct. “But why?” you say. “The phrase ‘beautifully written’ is a compound modifier, right?” Right. “And it precedes the noun it modifies in the sentence, right?” Right. “So it should be hyphenated, right?”

Wrong. It should not be hyphenated because of yet another rule perpetrated by the underground war criminal group that states …

• Don’t place a hyphen after a word that ends in “ly” – even if the word is part of a compound modifier that precedes the noun it modifies. The exception is if the “ly” that ends the word is part of the core word itself, as in “family” (a family-run business).

At this point you have probably either stopped reading in despair or are hopelessly frustrated and confused. It is helpful at times like this to remember what the Buddha said: “Life is suffering.” It would also be helpful to commit the three sentences we have discussed to memory and use them as guides or templates when you have questions about hyphenating compound modifiers. This will keep you out of trouble 98.7 percent of the time. When you memorize the following correctly written sentences, pay special attention to the presence or absence of hyphens:

1. This book is well written.
2. This is a well-written book.
3. This is a beautifully written book.

Finally, here are a few examples of these rules in action. All these sentences are correct, and hopefully you now know why.

He is a well-known actor.
He is an actor who is well known.
She received a $5,000-a-year bonus.
She received a bonus of $5,000 a year.
It was a naturally flavored food.
The food was naturally flavored.

Special Note: Send Me Your Problems!

Some of you have asked if I could help you with certain sticky issues regarding real-world writing. I would be delighted to.

Just send me a “comment” with a piece of text you have written (nothing too long, please) and tell me what it is that has you stumped or doesn’t seem right. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of it, rewrite it, and put the “before” and “after” versions in a post, along with supporting rules or suggestions when appropriate. We’ll then see if other people want to comment with their ideas or suggestions. I believe we will all learn from this sort of interactive exercise. I will try to respond to as many of these as possible.

Please don’t think that any issue related to writing rules, techniques and strategies is too basic or simple to send me. I’ve discovered that even the most basic issues often escape the best writers.

PS. Take your writing skills to a new level. Check out the real-world writing e-books now available for immediate download. Click here.