Anyways Is Not a Word

That’s right; anyways is not a word. Despite what you may have heard on numerous TV shows (especially NYPD Blue), the correct pronunciation is anyway without an “s.”

So you’d say:

✅ “I’m going to do it anyway.”
Not …
❌ “I’m going to do it anyways.

I was going to do this post a while ago, but then I put it on the back burner; however, after watching a few shows recently with my wife, I heard anyways used so much that I decided to go ahead with the post.

This is one of those mistakes that you won’t find much in writing, but you will hear it frequently in speech. The primary reason you won’t find it in writing is because grammar checkers (which have become more common), spellcheckers, and, of course, editors will point out the mistakes. Below is a screenshot of my grammar checker citing the errors in this blog.

Is Anyways Like Towards?

I’ve done previous posts on “towards,” “afterwards,” “backwards,” etc., but this is different. “Towards, afterwards, backwards,” etc., are valid British usage of the words. While it’s true that those words are preferred without the “s” in the United States, they are real words; anyways is not a real word in either language. I wrote another post about how other languages affect ours, but this is not the case with anyways. 

If Anyways Is Not A Word, Why Do I Hear It So Often?

Just because anyways is not a word doesn’t guarantee it won’t be used. Mistakes are made all the time, and words are misused all the time. There’s one TV show my wife watches where they have one of the characters continually questions the grammar usage of the other characters, and yet, he also continually makes grammatical mistakes.

I don’t have a problem with people making mistakes—even on TV—but if the writers of the TV show are going to have that character challenge other people’s grammar usage, then the writers should make sure that character uses proper grammar.

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Giacomo Giammatteo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes nonfiction books including the No Mistakes Careers series as well as books about grammar, publishing., and children’s fiction and nonfiction.

When Giacomo isn’t writing, he’s helping his wife take care of the animals on their sanctuary. At last count, they had forty animals—seven dogs, one horse, six cats, and twenty-five pigs.

Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who used to take walks with Giacomo every day.

He lives in Texas, where he and his wife have an animal sanctuary with forty loving “friends.”