Look at these 2 sentences:
- Jane is walking to the library.
- Sarah is walking towards the library.
to and towards are prepositions to describe movement.
Both of these sentences are grammatically correct. But there is a slight difference in the meaning. In this lesson, you will learn the difference.
towards
Let’s look at a sentence:
Sarah is walking towards the library.
In this sentence, “towards the library” means “in the direction of the library”.
When we use “towards“, we are not describing the destination. Maybe the destination is the library. But we are not certain.
Maybe Sarah will stop before the library. Maybe Sarah will walk past the library.
We know only that Sarah is walking in the direction of the library.
We do not know the result of the movement.
towards or toward ?
Sometimes you will see the word “toward” instead of “towards”. So what is the difference between towards and toward ?
“towards” is British English.
“toward” is American English.
Examples:
Sarah is walking toward the library. (American English)
Sarah is walking towards the library. (British English)
The meaning of towards and toward is the same.
to
Look at this sentence:
Jane is walking to the library.
“to the library” means that the destination of the journey is the library.
Jane’s exact direction at any moment during the journey is not important. When we use “to”, we are describing the destination of the movement. Only Jane’s final destination is important.
We are describing the result of the movement.
简单的翻译 & 总结:
TO 跟 TOWARDS 的不同
来看这两个句子:
- Jane is walking to the library.
- Sarah is walking towards the library.
to 跟 towards 都是用于描述运动的介词. 这两个句子在语法上都是正确的,但时有一些细微的差别.这节课里，你将会了解到这些。
towards
让我们来看这个句子:
Sarah is walking towards the library.
在这句话里,”towards the library”指的是朝着图书馆的方向.可能图书馆是目的地,但我们并不能确定.也许 Sarah 将会在图书馆前停住，也有可能 Sarah 会走过图书馆.我们知道的只是 Sarah 在朝着图书馆的方向走.但并不知道 Sarah 的目的地.
towards or toward ?
towards 是英式英语,toward 是美式英语.
to
来看这个句子:
Jane is walking to the library.
“to the library”指目的地是图书馆. Jane 在任意时间的移动方向是不重要的. 当我们使用 “to”,我们在描述移动的目的地.只有 Jane 的最终目的地才是重要的.
Summary
- toward 更多强调目前移动的方向，朝着…走去
- to 则强调移动的目的地，走到…
- toward 跟 towards 只是美式,英式英语的区别
原文链接:https://www.crownacademyenglish.com/difference-between-to-towards/