I didn’t expect her to say “yes,” but I asked her anyway.

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diamondcutter

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1. Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course, but she did it anyway. (from Cambridge Advanced Learners English Dictionary)
2. The road got worse, but they kept going anyway.(from Merriam-Webster Advanced Learners English Dictionary)
3. I didn’t expect her to say “yes,” but I asked her anyway.(from Merriam-Webster Advanced Learners English Dictionary)

I wonder if the ‘anyways’ above could be put after the ‘buts’ as follows.

1a. Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course, but anyway she did it.
2a. The road got worse, but anyway they kept going .
3a. I didn’t expect her to say “yes,” but anyway I asked her.
 

emsr2d2

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No.

Note that in your unnumbered sentence in the middle of the post, you incorrectly wrote "anyways".
 

diamondcutter

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But I read this sentence in Collins Advanced Learners English Dictionary.

I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but anyway I did.

In this sentence ‘but’ and ‘anyway’ are put together. I wonder why.
 

diamondcutter

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I’d also like to know if the ‘anyway’ has the same function as ‘but’ in the original sentences and if the first original sentence could be rewritten as follows.

Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course, but she did it.
Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course. Anyway, she did it.
Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course. She did it anyway.
 

jutfrank

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But I read this sentence in Collins Advanced Learners English Dictionary.

I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but anyway I did.

In this sentence ‘but’ and ‘anyway’ are put together. I wonder why.

This is a different kind of sentence from the ones in post #1.

The original ones in post #1 all have a sense of 'despite'. (I assume you know what that means. If not, let me know.) For example, in sentence 1, she gave up the course despite her parents' wishes. In sentence 2, they kept going despite the bad road, etc.

You will also notice that the sentences in post #1 all take the same form, which is: clause + but + clause + anyway

Can you see now how the example in post #3 is different in both form and meaning?
 
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jutfrank

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I’d also like to know if the ‘anyway’ has the same function as ‘but’ in the original sentences and if the first original sentence could be rewritten as follows.

Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course, but she did it.
Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course. Anyway, she did it.
Her parents were opposed to her giving up her course. She did it anyway.

It's not accurate to say that anyway has the same function as but. It's rather that the effect ('function' is not the right word here, by the way) comes from the coupling of but with anyway, which is lacking in all three of these sentences. Therefore, the original sentence cannot be rewritten in any of those ways with the same effect.

The way that you have rewritten each sentence in a different way does mean that each of those sentences is lacking in a different way, however. If you want to know more about that, we'll have to deal with them one at a time.
 

diamondcutter

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This is a different kind of sentence from the ones in post #1.

The original ones in post #1 all have a sense of 'despite'. (I assume you know what that means. If not, let me know.) For example, in sentence 1, she gave up the course despite her parents' wishes. In sentence 2, they kept going despite the bad road, etc.

You will also notice that the sentences in post #1 all take the same form, which is: clause + but + clause + anyway

Can you see now how the example in post #3 is different in both form and meaning?

Sorry, I can’t see the difference. Could you please enlighten me?
 

diamondcutter

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It's not accurate to say that anyway has the same function as but. It's rather that the effect ('function' is not the right word here, by the way) comes from the coupling of but with anyway, which is lacking in all three of these sentences. Therefore, the original sentence cannot be rewritten in any of those ways with the same effect.

The way that you have rewritten each sentence in a different way does mean that each of those sentences is lacking in a different way, however. If you want to know more about that, we'll have to deal with them one at a time.

Yes, I do want to know more. May I ask you to tell me?
 

jutfrank

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Sorry, I can’t see the difference. Could you please enlighten me?

I've just gone to significant effort in post #5 to spell out exactly how they differ in both form and meaning. Read post #5 again and then tell me what is not clear.

Yes, I do want to know more. May I ask you to tell me?

No, not until you show that you've understood post #5.
 

diamondcutter

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In Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, it says this.

You use anyway or anyhow to suggest that a statement is true or relevant in spite of other things that have been said.

I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but anyway I did.

I wasn't qualified to apply for the job really but I got it anyhow.

I think the first sample sentence also means that despite my ignorance of the reason, I settled on Aberdeen. And I think it could be rewritten like this:
I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but I did anyway.

That is to say, I think this sentence has the same form and meaning as the three ones in post #1.

And the second sample sentence also means that despite my disqualification, I still got the job.

I wonder if my understanding is correct.
 

jutfrank

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I think the first sample sentence also means that despite my ignorance of the reason, I settled on Aberdeen. And I think it could be rewritten like this:
I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but I did anyway.

That is to say, I think this sentence has the same form and meaning as the three ones in post #1.

It has the same form, yes, but that's because you've changed it. It is not the same as the version you wrote in post #3.

And it does not have the same meaning. It does not make sense to say that you made a decision in the past despite your not knowing in the future the reason behind the decision making process.

I'll make a suggestion here—you should disregard this sentence whether it makes sense to you or not, as it is not a good example to help you learn. I believe it is working more to confuse you than to help you understand.

And the second sample sentence also means that despite my disqualification, I still got the job.

Yes, that's correct. This is a nice clear example. The words anyway and anyhow are both possible in this use, though I suggest you use anyway.
 
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diamondcutter

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I wonder if I could say the sample sentence--I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but anyway I did--is not correct because it doesn’t make sense.
 

diamondcutter

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It's not accurate to say that anyway has the same function as but. It's rather that the effect ('function' is not the right word here, by the way) comes from the coupling of but with anyway, which is lacking in all three of these sentences. Therefore, the original sentence cannot be rewritten in any of those ways with the same effect.

The way that you have rewritten each sentence in a different way does mean that each of those sentences is lacking in a different way, however. If you want to know more about that, we'll have to deal with them one at a time.

Hi, Jutfrank. I wonder if I could know more now.:)
 

emsr2d2

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Hi, Jutfrank. I wonder if I could know more now.:)

OK. Let's now do what jutfrank suggested - deal with them one at a time. You choose one and start with it (starting a new thread for it might be a good idea).
 

diamondcutter

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OK, I'll start new threads.
 
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