I’m amazed at how much I always learn when I write posts about the English language and its various words that are so easy to misuse.
These two words were going to be in yesterday’s grouping, but there is too much information about them that can’t easily be shortened. It seemed better to focus on just these two in a separate post.
Forward plays many roles in a sentence; it can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun, or a verb.
Adjective
As an adjective, forward means toward something in the future, ready, or eager.
The ball was moving in a forward direction.
A forward person is usually very willing to offer opinions and solutions.
John is a very forward-thinking man!
Adverb
As an adverb, forward means toward the front, or toward something in the future.
She looked forward toward the staging area in the room.
She looked forward to meeting her new students on Monday!
My doctor moved my appointment forward, from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Our relationship has been moving forward quickly!
Noun
A forward is a sports position where the person is in front of the others.
A forward is a position in many sports, including hockey and football.
Verb
As a verb, forward means to send something to someone else.
I will forward that e-mail to Amy immediately.
Karen forwarded that message to me yesterday.
Then there’s foreword, which is a noun with only one definition.
A foreword is an introduction in a book, often written by someone other than the book’s author.
Got it? Two words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings (true homophones).
Any time you want to check out a word, you can use this link, which gives you several different dictionaries’ definitions of words: www.yourdictionary.com. I use it all the time because one dictionary’s definition may be easier for me to understand than another’s might be.