Drop the letter s . If you believe that one letter couldn’t possibly cause you to receive a rejection, I encourage you to think again, especially if the same mistake recurs throughout your manuscript. Incorrect usage comes from the lax attitude about our English language. Most people speak in jargon or a brogue that comes from a certain locale. I call it family hand-me-down language . Truth is, no matter from where you hail, your written grammar must be correct for the broader reading audience. I’m speaking of the letter s . Check out these sentences: She ran towards the garage. The ball rolled backwards. Look upwards. These sentences are all incorrect. That is, the use of the letter s is incorrect. The letter s denotes something plural. In the first sentence, moving toward something means you can only go in one direction. Toward. If the ball rolled backward, it can only go in one direction. Backward. To look upward, you can only look in one direction. Upward.