Hi Gene, Both words are spelling variations of the same meaning -- "toward" is more commonly used in American and Canadian English while "towards" is used more commonly in British and Australian English. Just for interest sake, if you compare the frequency of the usage of these two words using Google Ngram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=toward%2Ctowards&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctoward%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ctowards%3B%2Cc0), you will find that "toward" is more commonly used nowadays. This is one of the many examples of how English has evolved geographically.

No! None at all. It just depends on where you live, but really you can use either. Americans are more likely to use 'toward', and the British and Australians are more likely to use 'towards'.

Both spellings are equally correct. When you use the word as an adjective it means coming soon or happening at the moment. (He will arrive some time toward(s) the end of the month) But when it is used as a preposition it can mean different things depending on the context. It can mean in a certain direction, (moving toward(s) the right side of the road) or relating to something. (She tends to be more helpful toward(s) young children) and so on.