A couple of days ago Number Two Son messaged me (as they say). He is an engineer; I’ve never known him to be especially alive to the nuances and quirks of the English language.
He had a question: should he be using “backwards/forwards” or “backward/forward”?
He caught me while I was out on a walk, so I replied with the first thing that came into my head: that “backward/forward” sounds like it might be more of an American usage but that I didn’t know if there was any actual difference.
Then I consulted the experts.
The experts (ie, in this case, Fowler; Dreyer doesn’t seem to engage with it) told me that “forwards” and “backwards” are purely directional: I am walking forwards. The country is going backwards. “Forward” and “backward”, on the other hand, are – well, I don’t know what you would call it, maybe more in the nature of metaphors? Looking forward to retirement (lol). A backward step. (Well, “the country is going backwards” is also a metaphor. But it’s a directional metaphor. Does that make it okay?)
This distinction is, had I ever turned my mind to it, what I think I am used to seeing. And I can now add it to the list of things I will be watching out for in judgments – moving, er, forward.
What is the 'it'? 
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