toward(s) (a)round...

[magicdice]

when do i use which?

[Quizmonster]

As prepositions, 'toward' is the more usual version in American English and 'towards' is the almost invariable form in British English.

Regarding 'a/round', there are so many different uses that it would take forever to explain. In many cases, they are interchangeable, but in others they are not. Thus, we say 'seated round the table' or 'seated around the table', 'fool around' but not 'fool round' and 'all year round' but not 'all year around'. Usage is everything.

[magicdice]

thhandkyou very mucuhh

[jno]

I blush to disagree with Quizmonster, who's a lot more infallible than Benedict XVI, but I think fool round is ok; ditto play round, run round etc. Of course, I was badly brought up on a diet of American comic books. When you speak them, rather than write them, the difference can be very hard to hear anyway.

[Quizmonster]

As I said, Jno, "usage is everything". If 'fool round' is common in speech where you live, then so be it...it's 'correct' there. The examples I offered above were just what seemed to me to be standard British English usage. (By the way, I'd never claim infallibility, not even when speaking ex cathedra.) Cheers