Ebb - is it right to say "ebb toward", or does this word have negative connotations
Solution 1:
You may use ebb toward or towards, but it is especially not common. The NY Times has this example:
- As the last nights of summer ebb toward autumn, folding chairs and picnic blankets blossom under a canopy of leaves in the garden of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
Here are more Google Books results:
- And Aaron felt his life ebb towards her. [DH Lawrence]
- ... the telltale blood which had begun to ebb towards her heart rushing again tumultuously to her very temples. [JF Cooper]
- Logically, the tide would flood in to high water, and then immediately turn and ebb towards low water.
- On the west side of Ireland the tide flows against the land, and the ebb falls back from it into the sea; the flood tide going from, and the ebb towards the west.
- The tides in the Whitsundays Flood towards the South and Ebb towards the North.
- ... I soon had the tide against me from the other Kill until I passed the Rahway River, when it commenced to ebb towards Raritan Bay.
Some instances are unrelated, for example, another Google Books result gives:
The emphasis on the question of Romanian unity in the Middle Ages, or rather political division (the reverse side of the same logic), saw a pronounced ebb towards the end of the nineteenth century.
In the last example, it is mere circumstance that have collocated the two words.
Solution 2:
Ebb generally means "retreat" or "decline" (as in ebb tide). So you can ebb towards something, but it's usually towards something which is worse than at present.
The Church is ebbing towards irrelevance.
It seems you actually want exactly the opposite. Normally that's flow (as in ebb and flow), but that only works in tidal or similar situations.
You need something active and enthusiastic here, surely?
[company name] is a company of specialists who embrace new and innovative technologies...
Solution 3:
If you are trying to connote a very gradual movement or improvement try inch:
"[company name] is a company of specialists who inch toward new and innovative technologies.."
Solution 4:
As with other answers, ebb means "retreat", but it is possible to "ebb towards" because it is possible to retreat towards. There is always the question there of what it is ebbing away from, and the very use of the world poses that question.
"[company name] is a company of specialists who ebb toward new and innovative technologies.."
The question here is what are they retreating from? Old and Proven technologies? Dated and Reliable technologies? However you put it, there is a negative connotation, because the word "ebb" carries this with it. A better choice would be:
"[company name] is a company of specialists who drive towards toward new and innovative technologies.."
or some similar type of construct, with the focus on the positives of the new and innovative, not on the negatives of what they are retreating from.
Solution 5:
Apart from receding and declining, ebb suggests waning power. It appears to be in confilct with the idea of moving towards new technology etc., which suggests gathering strength.