Adverb placement: "anyway"

Question

Would it be better to move the word "anyway" to the beginning of the sentence in bold (and follow it up with a comma) rather than keep it where it currently is?

"I turned. I wasn't seeing the view from my thirty-first-floor window anyway, which looked out over New York's dense mass of high rises."

If so, why? If not, why?

Also, if the sentence in bold were kept the same, would a comma be necessary between the words "window" and "anyway"?

Thank you very much.

Dimsumexpress · Accepted Answer

Anonymous"I turned. 1) I wasn't seeing the view from my thirty-first-floor window 2) anyway, which looked out over New York's 3) dense mass of high rises."

Whether " anyway " is correctly placed is secondary. What is important is composing a sentence that readers have no problem understanding. As you posted, this sentence is not semantically clear what you tried to say.

# 1 doesn't need to be past progress.
# 2 depending on the rest of the context.
# 3 dense mass of high rises. Is this a phrase to glorify New York's skyline ?

Anonymous · Answer

Grammatically there's no problem moving it to the beginning of the sentence.  But it would depend on the entire context that this sentence appears in, which is not clear from this fragment.  Moving it to the beginning would put emphasis on it that may not be appropriate.  Commas, in either case, are not necessary, unless there's something in the context that would dictate it.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks so much for your feedback.

Here is a bit more of the surrounding text. The different sections are supposed to be separate paragraphs. Hopefully this will help put my original question about the placement of "anyway" into clearer perspective:
___________

She gave a delicate cough. "Pardon me, Mr. Clark, but I'm concerned. I took the liberty of querying my colleague this morning."

I turned. I wasn't seeing the view from my thirty-first-floor window anyway, which looked out over New York's dense mass of high rises. "Go on."

"Er." She hesitated. "It appears our usual services will not be needed this week. In fact, it appears our services will not be needed for an indefinite period of time."
___________

The way "anyway" is being used seems to be to convey a sense of "in any case" or "at any rate." Would it be incorrect to keep it where it is? Would it be better to move it to the front of the bold sentence? The sentence in bold just doesn't seem to flow naturally, but perhaps it's just that I've been staring at it for too long. Thank you again!

Anonymous · Answer

With the additional context you gave, I can say the text is correct as it stands.  The emphasis here is on what the woman is saying to Clark.  The sentence in bold type is just "filler," so to speak, and must not detract from what is important here, which is what the woman is saying.  If you put "anyway" at the beginning of the sentence, or put commas anywhere in the sentence, that will draw attention to this sentence, which is not appropriate, since it is just a filler sentence in this scene - note that you could eliminate the bolded sentence and it wouldn't be missed at all.

Anonymous · Answer

AnonymousWith the additional context you gave, I can say the text is correct as it stands. The emphasis here is on what the woman is saying to Clark. The sentence in bold type is just "filler," so to speak, and must not detract from what is important here, which is what the woman is saying. If you put "anyway" at the beginning of the sentence, or put commas anywhere in the sentence, that will draw attention to this sentence, which is not appropriate, since it is just a filler sentence in this scene - note that you could eliminate the bolded sentence and it wouldn't be missed at all.

Thank you so much for this clear and detailed response. I really appreciate it. Very best to you.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks, dimsumexpress, for pointing out a few new things I was glad to take into consideration. I think the additional context I later provided demonstrates that the use of the past progressive tense is all right here. As for the description of NYC's skyline ... well, different writers have different ways of envisioning things, so I decided that the phrase you pointed out in #3 is also okay. Thank you for your help. It is much appreciated.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Sometimes, the difference between prescriptive and descriptive approach can cause variance in what is considered acceptable and what is not. So naturally we do have this idiosyncrasy among the participants. The point I tried to make was based on your short passage you gave which didn't have much supporting context to show its actual meaning.

Anonymouswell, different writers have different ways of envisioning things

True, also different ways to narrate and describe their visions.

Adverb placement: "anyway"

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