Is the use "anyways" grammatically correct?

Question

I always feel that if you are using 'any' with a word it means 'one' e.g. anybody. But I've often heard people say 'anyways' which I feel is wrong as 'anyway' will mean 'in any case', isn't it? The rules please.

Answer 1

"Anyways" is slang.

"Anyway" is proper.

You won't see "anyways" used in formal writing (hopefully).

Answer 2

“Anyways” at the beginning of a sentence usually indicates that the speaker has resumed a narrative thread: “Anyways, I told Matilda that guy was a lazy bum before she ever married him.” It also occurs at the end of phrases and sentences, meaning “in any case“: “He wasn’t all that good-looking anyways.” A slightly less rustic quality can be imparted to these sentences by substituting the more formal anyway. Neither expression is a good idea in formal written English. The two-word phrase “any way” has many legitimate uses, however: “Is there any way to prevent the impending disaster?”

Answer 3

"anyway" is correct.

Answer 4

Anyway means "anyhow" or "in any case.", but  "Anyways" is a strictly colloquial expression, as ungrammatical in written English as "anyhows" because adverbs cannot be plural.

Answer 5

Your reasoning is correct: 'anyway' is already a plural, so the 's' in anyways is both redundant and extremely annoying.

Answer 6

I don't know if 'anyways' is grammatically correct, but we use it in Ireland, so it's part of the living language.

I hear 'anyway' (without the 's') a lot more frequently from speakers from other countries.