As an adverb, either word will do: “put the shirt on backward” or “put the shirt on backwards.” However, as an adjective, only “backward” will do: “a backward glance.” When in doubt, use “backward.”

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To “back up” is an activity; “back up your computer regularly”; “back up the truck to the garden plot and unload the compost.”

A “backup” is a thing: “keep your backup copies in a safe place.” Other examples: a traffic backup, sewage backup, backup plan, backup forces.

Older writers often hyphenated this latter form (“back-up”), but this is now rare.

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This is a slash: /. Because the top of it leans forward, it is sometimes called a “forward slash.”

This is a backslash: \. Notice the way it leans back, distinguishing it from the regular slash.

Slashes are often used to indicate directories and subdirectories in computer systems such as Unix and in World Wide Web addresses. Unfortunately, many people, assuming “backslash” is some sort of technical term for the regular slash, use the term incorrectly, which risks confusing those who know enough to distinguish between the two but not enough to realize that Web addresses rarely contain backslashes.

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Although you will often see people writing about the “backseat” of a car, the standard and still most common spelling of the noun form is as two words: “back seat.” “Small children should ride in the back seat.” “In a crisis, planning takes a back seat to immediate action.”

The one-word adjective “backseat” is appropriate when it describes where something is. “The backseat area is cramped in this model ” “Don’t be a backseat driver.” Conservatives prefer the hyphenated spelling “back-seat” for this sort of use: the back-seat area, a back-seat driver.

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For most people you move an event forward by scheduling it to happen sooner, but other people imagine the event being moved forward into the future, postponed. This is what most—but not all—people mean by saying they want to move an event back—later. Usage is also split on whether moving an event up means making it happen sooner (most common) or later (less common). The result is widespread confusion. When using these expressions make clear your meaning by the context in which you use them. “We need to move the meeting forward” is ambiguous; “we need to move the meeting forward to an earlier date” is not.

Just to confuse things further, when you move the clock ahead in the spring for daylight saving time, you make it later; but when you move a meeting ahead, you make it sooner. Isn’t English wonderful?

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The centers of wheels are connected by axles. An axel is a tricky jump in figure skating named after Axel Paulsen.

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The dialectal pronunciation of “ask” as “ax” suggests to most people that the speaker has a substandard education. You should avoid it in formal speaking situations.

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“Aw, shucks,” is a traditional folksy expression of modesty. An “aw-shucks” kind of person declines to accept compliments. “Aw” is an interjection roughly synonymous with “oh.” “Awe” is a noun which most often means “amazed admiration.” So many people have begun to misspell the familiar phrase “awe, shucks,” that some writers think they are being clever when they link it to the expression “shock and awe.” Instead, they reveal their confusion.

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“Jessica commented on my haircut in a way that made me think maybe I shouldn’t have let my little sister do it for me.” In this sort of context, “a way” should always be two distinct words, though many people use the single word “away” instead. If you’re uncertain, try substituting another word for “way”: “in a manner that,” “in a style that.” If the result makes sense, you need the two-word phrase. Then you can tell Jessica to just go away.

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