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Today someone tried to help me to find something but failed, so I said "thank you anyway" to her in the end.

Is "thank you anyway" appropriate in this situation? And what phrase should I use to politely say thank you to someone who tried to help me but failed?

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  • Yes, that is a perfectly natural and appropriate thing to say. You can also use thanks all the same, which no one has mentioned in the answers yet.
    – Carl Smith
    Aug 23, 2015 at 7:21
  • Thank you for your efforts.
    – Ram Pillai
    Jul 8, 2021 at 1:28

4 Answers 4

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"Thanks anyway" is perfectly acceptable. You could also use phrases such as "I appreciate your help," or "thanks for trying." There is no specific phrase I can think of reserved for this scenario, though.

Thanks to @CandiedOrange for suggesting an improvement.

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    Feeling to lazy to create a competing answer so I'll simply suggest adding "Thanks for trying" as well.
    – candied_orange
    Aug 23, 2015 at 4:24
  • Or "Thanks for making the effort", or anything roughly equivalent.
    – keshlam
    Aug 23, 2015 at 5:26
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I would go with, "Your effort (was/is) appreciated." was/is depending on the relationship temporally to the effort; That being said, the other answers are also good.

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    Sounds too pompous to be able to use in everyday life.
    – aparente001
    Aug 25, 2015 at 3:42
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Some good responses are:
"Thanks/ thank you anyways/anyway"
"I appreciated that"
"Thank you for your time/effort"
"That was greatly appreciated"
Basically anything that shows your gratitude for them spending time and effort is acceptable.

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2

I think "Thank you all the same" can be used in this situation.

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