Hello and welcome to this video. Today you're going to learn how to use anyway, anyways,
anyhow and anywho. This is a question I get a lot from students and I'm happy to answer it for you.
Now make sure you watch right until the end because you're going to complete
a quiz to make sure you know how to use these words. And you can download a free PDF
that summarizes all the information from the lesson. So you can do that right at the end.
Welcome back to JForrestEnglish training. Of course, I'm Jennifer and this is
your channel to become a fluent, confident English speaker. Now let's dive in.
Let's talk about how to use anyway, anyways, anyhow and anywho. First, let's talk about
anyway and anyways. What's the difference between these two? Well, it's very simple. One of these
words is grammatically correct, and the other is slang. Do you know which one is slang?
Well, anyways, with an s, is slang. It doesn't exist in English as a word. This may surprise you
because native speakers use anyways all the time. In fact, I would say that anyways with an S is
just as common as anyway, even though technically anyways with an S is not a word in English. It's
slang. Regardless, you will hear anyways in formal situations like TED talks, or formal
presentations, even from politicians and doctors. You will hear anyways being used all the time.
But remember, anyway without the s, anyway is the grammatically correct choice
in any situation. Now let's talk about how to use anyway and anyhow. They have the exact same
meaning. They're interchangeable, which means you can use anyway or you can use anyhow, it doesn't
matter. They're both adverbs, and they have three common meanings. So let's review each meaning
and we'll look at example sentences. The first meaning. We use anyway and anyhow to mean in any
case, without regard to other considerations. For example, let's say you're planning a family dinner
at a new restaurant you want to try but you're not sure if this restaurant takes reservations. You
might say to your family member, I'm not sure if the restaurant takes reservations. Anyway,
I'll call tonight. So this means without regard to other considerations, in any case. So it doesn't
matter if the restaurant takes reservations or doesn't take reservations, you're going to call.
Remember you can use anyhow and they have the exact same meaning. So I could say, I'm not sure
if the restaurant takes reservations. I'll call tonight anyhow. Notice I changed the placement of
the adverb. The placement can come at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the
sentence. There's no difference between these two. Anyway and anyhow are also used when you
provide a more important reason or consideration. Let's say you find out about a work conference,
but you decide you're not going to go. You can say, the conference is out of town. That's one
reason you're not going to go. It's out of town, which means it's not in your city or
your location. It's in a different city or a different location. So that's one reason. But
you want to provide a more important reason why you're not going to the conference. You could say,
the conference is out of town. And I have another meeting that day anyway. So the fact that you have
another meeting is more important than the fact that the conference is out of town. And we use the
adverb anyway to show that. With this meaning, the placement of the adverb is also flexible
and it can come at the beginning of the sentence or the end of the sentence. So I could also say,
the conference is out of town. And anyhow, I have another meeting that day.
Notice it came at the beginning of the sentence, but I put the adverb "and"
to act as a transition word. And anyhow. So you will commonly see anyhow or anyway with a small
adverb like, "and, but, so" in front of it. That doesn't change the meaning in any way, in any way.
And you can just get rid of it and the sentence would be the same. The conference is out of town.
Anyhow, I have another meeting that day. The final way we use anyway and anyhow is as a transition
word to transition from one conversation topic to another conversation topic. And this might
be the most common way it's used. And this might be the way you're most comfortable using it. And
you can use anyway or anyhow, it doesn't matter. And of course you can use anyways but remember
that's slang. So let's say you're having a conversation with your friend and you're
talking about one subject, work. You're talking about work, work,
work. It's really busy at work right now, and we need to hire another accountant. But now you
don't want to talk about work anymore with your friend. You want to change the topic. You can say,
anyway, how was Italy? So your friend just got back from this vacation, and you want to
now change the topic from work to your friend's vacation. Work's really busy now, we need to hire
another accountant. Anyhow, how was Italy. Tell me about Italy. Again, you can use anyway or anyhow.
But with this meaning, to change conversation topics, we most commonly put the adverb at the
beginning of the second sentence. So we don't commonly put it at the end of the sentence.
And you can still use another transition word like "and, so, but". You're talking about work,
we need to hire another accountant. So anyway, and anyway, but anyway, how was Italy? Now finally,
let's talk about the difference between anyhow and anywho. Anywho is a slang replacement
to anyhow, you can use it the exact same way you use anyhow. Remember though, it's slang.
Now notice the spelling because most commonly when we use this in a text message, for example, it's
spelled anyhoo. That's because we're borrowing from the word how, and we're just changing
it slightly to hoo. So you may see it written as anywho, but it's more commonly written as anyhoo.
In pronunciation, there's no difference at all. Anyhoo is a fun, light hearted, casual way to say
anyhow. But keep in mind that it isn't commonly used. Remember, I said that anyways, even though
it's slang, is used 50% of the time. That's not the same with anyhoo. Anyhoo isn't very common.
And some native speakers, depending on the region they're from, they might not even know what it is
and they may think you just made a mistake and you meant to say anyhow. So because it isn't
very commonly used, and because it's slang, I don't recommend using it. Now you know how to
use anyway, anyways, anyhow and anywho. Are you ready for your quiz? Here are your questions.
Hit pause, take as much time as you need and when you're ready, hit play for the answers.
Let's see how well you did on that quiz. Here are your answers. So hit pause, review these answers,
compare them to your own and when you're done, hit play.
So how did you do with that quiz? Share your score in the comments below. And remember,
you can download the PDF that summarizes everything from this lesson so you can
practice it and review it. So the link to download the PDF is right there. You can
go there and download it anytime. And if you found this video helpful, please hit the like
button share it with your friends and of course subscribe. And until next time happy studying!