What is the difference between try to do and try and do?
To me (non-native speaker), asking someone try and do this seems a bit rude. It’s like saying you can try all you want but this must be done: try and fail is not an option. However, asking someone try to do this means I am asking you to try: success is bonus, failure is OK.
asked Aug 11, 2010 at 18:14
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«Try and» has largely been relegated to colloquial use, and «try to» is generally considered the correct form. They are basically synonymous. «Try and» is not really more rude, in my opinion. According to alt.usage.english, «try and» is probably older than «try to,» and, when used, implies success or failure of whatever action is being attempted.
As far as speech goes though, they’re the same thing. If you’re writing, «try and» is generally discouraged.
RegDwigнt
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answered Aug 11, 2010 at 18:35
kitukwfyerkitukwfyer
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Try and is a paraphrase of try to, typically used in informal promises and instructions, as in: I’ll try and keep in touch with her [and] Try and come soon. It expresses
a supportive attitude, as Fowler (1926) noticed, and has a particular
interpersonal role to play, hence its relatively high frequency in
conversation.
From the article in ‘The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’
answered Oct 27, 2011 at 10:55
Barrie EnglandBarrie England
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«Try and…», while accepted in everyday usage, always sounds wrong to me, as if the speaker is commanding you to do two things: try something unspecified, and then do this other thing.
answered Aug 12, 2010 at 19:39
GaryGary
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«Try and do» is the form of «try to do» in my native dialect (centered in Pittsburgh, maybe), and probably wouldn’t sound strange to any American or Canadian. A related construction is «needs done» instead of «needs to be done», which is more rare outside that dialect.
answered Aug 12, 2010 at 20:06
TaldaugionTaldaugion
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I believe «try and do» is more of an oral expression, but has the same meaning as «try to do».
In writing, I would always use «try to do».
answered Aug 11, 2010 at 18:32
VonCVonC
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When in doubt, remember the words of the great orator, Bart Simpson:
«I can’t promise I’ll try, but I’ll try to try.»
On my suggestion, now enshrined in the Guardian style guide:
try to
never «try and». As Bart Simpson put it: «I can’t promise I’ll try, but I’ll try to try»
answered Oct 27, 2011 at 10:13
HugoHugo
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There is no difference. «Try to» is the «classic» version — «try and» has been increasing in usage recently (and is quite the pet peeve of mine), but I’ve never known an English speaker to see a difference in meaning between the two.
answered Aug 11, 2010 at 18:32
J.T. GrimesJ.T. Grimes
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This is really strange, in Norwegian it’s a lot of confusion between homphones «og» (meaning and) and «å» (equivalent to the word to) that are pronounced the same (the g is silent, and o is sometimes the same sound as å, which is approximately the same sound as the vowel in «wall»). This is not surprising, but I’ve noticed the same confusion occur in related languages like English where it’s not homophones.
Perhaps it’s something about the grammar of the Germanic languages that causes this difference to be hard to understand?
(There could be a slight intentional difference in meaning between «try to» and «try and» but usually it seems like a mistake)
answered Dec 15, 2010 at 14:49
The use of «try and» seems to me to be an effort to build optimism into the language. If one actually is unsure of success one would appropriately say, «I will try to succeed.» However, If there is no doubt that success will occur what need is there to insert «try and» into the phrase when then one could simply say, «I will succeed.»
answered Dec 6, 2013 at 4:09
«Try and do» is regarded as a colloquial and ungrammatical version of «try to do», but is really grammatical if you accept that it expresses a slightly different meaning technically. «Try and do» seems to imply that you will try, but that you WILL do something, while «try to do» doesn’t seem to express any certainty about the outcome of your trying. That said, people generally use «try and do» to mean «try to do», and you can save it from being labeled ungrammatical by calling it idiomatic.
answered May 15, 2012 at 2:54
Kaiser OctaviusKaiser Octavius
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On way to see that try and instead of try to is wrong is to say it in the past tense. Yesterday, I tried to do something vs yesterday, I tried and do something. Future tense, I will try to do something tomorrow vs I will try and do something tomorrow.
answered Oct 6, 2014 at 14:23
1
When used correctly, the conjunction «and» in «try and» means there are two distinct thoughts. If there is a continuous thought, always use «try to».
For example, in football a runner would try to score. He may or may not succeed. If you say «try and score» you are separating the try from the score. He is going to try and he is going to score. Since scoring is directly connected to what he is trying to do, the only correct way to say it or write it is «try to». They do not have the same meaning though some people use them as having the same meaning. You can prove this by using other tenses of try.
On that play the runner tried and score.
Obviously that does not work. It should be written as tried to.
The runner tried to score on that play.
or
The runner was trying to score.
Just because many people get it wrong does not make it right. Consider these two sentences:
The inventor will try to succeed in making his project work.
or
The inventor will try and succeed in making his project work.
They both could be correctly used but one means he may succeed while the other means he will try and he will succeed.
answered Jan 29, 2014 at 17:14
It’s quite straightforward really and nothing to do with the verb ‘try’! In the examples given the imperative form of the verb ‘to try’ is always followed by a second verb, which is non-finite in form; e.g. try to come if you can, try to be early as it gets filled up quickly, etc. Since the finite form of the verb is always to be, to have, to come etc. then the correct word to use must be ‘to’ rather than ‘and’.
However, when we speak we usually don’t observe such niceties and so ‘try and’ is commonly heard. However, when we write we should try to use the correct grammatical construction!
answered Feb 10, 2015 at 18:47
3
The verb ‘try’ can be followed by either an infinitive (to) verb or a gerund (-ing) verb, but the two constructions have different meanings. So, how do you know whether to use try to do or try doing in any given sentence?
Here we’ll take a look at what it means when you try to do something vs try doing something. The example sentences we have included should help make everything clear for you with these commonly confused words.
As with other easily mixed-up words such as stop to do vs stop doing and like to do vs like doing, there is a clear difference in meaning between try to do and try doing.
Let’s look at how to use each of these correctly.
Try to do something
The structure try to do something, using an infinitive verb, describes an attempt or effort to do, get or achieve something. For example:
- I must try to complete this report by the end of the day.
- Have you ever tried to learn a musical instrument?
- You should try not to drink alcohol more than twice a week.
- He likes to try to beat his sister at chess, but she always wins.
- The children tried to put up the tent by themselves, but in the end they needed to ask their parents for help.
When you use ‘try to do’, it suggests that you may fail or you may succeed in your attempt (or, if in the past, you had the possibility of failing or succeeding).
Try doing something
The structure try doing something describes an experiment or test to achieve a particular outcome. When you try doing something, you always succeed in that action but it may or may not help you achieve your overall goal.
Use this structure when you’re doing something in order to solve a problem. Have a look at these examples:
- I’ve tried altering this recipe so many ways, but the cake never comes out quite right.
- My phone stopped working, so I tried turning it off and on again.
- My colleague doesn’t seem to like me very much, even though I’ve tried inviting him to our social events.
- If you have a sore throat, try drinking honey and lemon mixed with warm water.
- Tomorrow I’m going to try waking up early to meditate. I heard it will keep me feeling calm all day.
So, to summarise the difference between try to do and try doing something:
‘Try to do’ is about an attempt or effort; ‘Try doing’ is about an experiment or trial to achieve a higher goal.
Try and do something
You may sometimes see or hear the structure try and do something. For example:
- Let’s try and finish cooking dinner before our friends arrive.
- Can you try and fix the printer for me please?
- I’m going to try and get some flowers on the way home.
This is used in casual English as a replacement for ‘try to do’ but it’s not strictly correct so should certainly be avoided in formal speech, and in most writing.
Also note that it can’t be used with past tense structures; only to talk about something that will be attempted in the future. If in doubt, stick to using just try to do or try doing.
Try to do or try doing?
With the above explanations in mind, it should be easier to work out why we use try to do or try doing in the following sentences:
- I have tried to talk to Lynn but her assistant keeps telling me she’s unavailable. (I have been unable to talk to her.)
- I have tried talking to Lynn but she’s still angry with me and doesn’t want to listen. (I have talked to her, but it hasn’t resolved the problem.)
- If you’re having trouble sleeping, why don’t you try going to bed earlier?
- I tried going to bed earlier but I still couldn’t sleep until midnight.
- Sasha’s computer is not working. She is trying to fix it by herself.
- Has she tried updating her software?
- She said she has tried everything!
We hope this has helped you understand whether to use try to do or try doing in any particular situation. If you have an example you’re unsure about, please leave a comment below to share it.
Now, why not check out some more confusing words?
Do you want to be more confident using English? Why not try Grammarly’s free proofreading tool. It checks as you write and helps you correct and improve your spelling and grammar.
Well Elroy, don’t you think that’s a little sweeping? It’s one thing to make note of what’s grammatically correct, and set the student straight about what his instructors expect. But are you sure the work of great authors grows out of grammar texts and style manuals, and that nothing worth reading has come from the pens of writers who slip up from time to time and say «try and understand» or «try and fathom» or «try and sleep it off?»
I’d’ve replied to you sooner, but excising the trash from my library and bringing it up to standards of readability took a bit longer than I thought. In fact, I think I hurt my back.
You’ll be dismayed to learn that not much worth reading has come out of British literature since the time of Milton— well, Swift anyway. And I think one of the Bronte sisters passed muster. So, curiously enough, did Bernard Shaw— some revolutionary he turned out to be.
I’m not too surprised to see people like Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson fall short, as they wrote for children— but doesn’t that make their frailty all the more shocking? The same goes for writers an impressionable juvenile might enjoy— P.G. Wodehouse, Arthur Conan Doyle, E.M. Forster, Agatha Christie, Joseph Conrad…aw, not Dickens! And Lewis Carroll? Say it ain’t so, Father Dodson!
I don’t imagine many lit students will mind seeing George Eliot thrown in the dustbin, and that ponderous old plodder, Thomas Hardy. And did anyone ever read Thackeray and Samuel Butler and Henry James? Well, I liked James a lot, but I also like my grits runny, and look how I turned out!
Fortunately my library was a little scant on Galsworthy and Maugham and Chesterton and Edith Wharton, so I didn’t have much of their verbiage to haul. But I hated to see D.H. Lawrence and Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf go— what will tomorrow’s rebellious youth read now, Pilgrim’s Progress?
It’ll have to do instead of 1984, but I guess if you’ve read one allegory you’ve read them all. Having assigned Orwell’s «Politics and the English Language» as a style text to my (college freshmen) Rhetoric students, I was shocked by the hypocrisy of my erstwhile icon of clarity and cogency— penning fiction that violated the benchmark rule that all written works in English must follow, to merit a reading. I hope I didn’t do all those students any harm, foisting a clod like Orwell on them.
I’ll be sure and do something to atone for it!
Е
сть ли разница между предложениями «I tried to study English» и «I tried studying English»? Давайте вместе разберемся, когда употреблять инфинитив, а когда герундий после глагола try. Для наглядности приведем примеры.
- Maria tried to climb Everest – Мария пыталась взобраться на Эверест
- I tried to watch a movie about paranormal activity, but it was too scary! – я пытался смотреть фильм о паранормальных явлениях, но он был слишком страшным.
- Tom tried to study but he was very tired. – Том пытался заниматься, но он был очень уставшим.
Начнем с того, что мы используем глагол try, когда перед нами стоит трудная задача и мы стараемся что-то сделать. Использование инфинитива после глагола try, как показано в примерах, указывает на то, что мы прилагаем очень много усилий, стараемся изо всех сил, делаем все, что от нас зависит, но в итоге у нас ничего не выходит. Если мы говорим «I tried to cook a new dish – я пыталась приготовить новое блюдо», это означает, что у меня ничего не вышло, я не справилась.
Герундий после глагола try
Что касается использования герундия после глагола try, мы используем эту конструкцию, если нужно подчеркнуть, что выполняя действие, мы выполняем эксперимент, т.е. пробуем что-то новое, но исход этого эксперимента нам неизвестен, мы не знаем что может случиться в результате.
Конструкция try + герундий используется также если нужно посоветовать что-то кому-то, часто мы не переводим ее на русский язык.
Следующие примеры помогут проиллюстрировать вышеперечисленное.
- Try adding spicies to your potatoes – Попробуй добавить специй к своей картошке (попробуй что-то новое)
- He is fond of extremal activities. He also tried climbing the rocks. — Он любит экстрим. Он даже пробовал взбираться на скалы (экспериментировал)
- If you can’t reach me by e-mail, try calling me – если не можешь связаться со мной по мейлу, попробуй позвонить (совет)
- If you want to become a better English speaker, try speaking English whenever you can — если вы хотите лучше владеть английским, старайтесь говорить на английском при каждой возможности (совет)
- I tried to pass my driving test but I failed – я попытался сдать на вождение, но провалил тест (сложное действие, которое не удалось)
- If your girl friend is angry with you try giving her flowers – если ваша девушка сердится на вас, подарите ей цветы (совет)
Надеемся, наша статья прояснила многое для вас, и вы будете использовать глагол try в нужное время с нужной формой глагола.
‘Try’ is a special verb in English because we can follow it with either a gerund (ing form) or infinitive. However the meaning changes.
Watch the video and learn how ‘try to do’ is different from ‘try doing’.
Watch videos about some other verbs that can be followed by gerunds and infinitives. Learn how their meanings change.
used to do – be used to doing
stop to do – stop doing
Click here to watch more grammar videos
Try to do or Try doing script
What are you doing?
Oh, I’m trying to learn to touch type.
But what are all the stickie notes for?
Oh, I’m trying not to look at the keys.
Good luck with that.
The verb ‘try’ can be followed by an infinitive form or a gerund and the two structures have very similar meanings. In fact they’re so similar that in some situations you can use either.
Have you spoken to Rachel? No I tried calling her but the line was busy.
Have you spoken to Rachel? No I tried to call her but the line was busy.
In both cases Jay wanted to speak to Rachel. ‘I tried calling’ means he thought phoning might be the way to do it. I tried to call’ means he made an effort – made an attempt to speak to her.
So the difference is very subtle – very small. ‘Try doing’ is about getting results, achieving a successful outcome. Try to do’ is about making an effort.
I’m trying to change this lightbulb but I can’t reach.
We often use ‘try to do’ when we think something is hard.
We’re trying to do this jigsaw, but it’s very difficult.
What’s a frog’s favourite drink?
Jay, I’m busy.
Croak-a-Cola. Did you know cows have four stomachs?
Jay, I’m trying to work.
So we use ‘try to’ when an action iteself is hard. When an action is easy but we don’t know if it will achieve the result we want, we use ‘try doing’.
What do you think?
It’s a bit tasteless.
Try adding some salt.
OK.
Adding salt is easy, so the issue here is will salt make it better. Try doing’ is about experimenting to find something that works.
The television’s not working. Try plugging it in. Oh.
We often use ‘trying doing’ when there’s a problem and we’re suggesting a possible solution.
Coming?
I want to finish my coffee. It’s hot.
Try putting some ice in it.
Good idea.
I do wish you’d try going out with some of the other boys as well as Geoff.
Why? Mother I like Geoff a lot.
I know dear. I like him too. But after all, there are other boys in the world.
So ‘try to do’ – make an effort. ‘Try doing’ – experiment. You can see both forms in this sentence here. Learning to touch type is hard. You have to make an effort. Perhaps sticky notes will help, or perhaps not. They’re an experiment. One last example.
What are you doing?
I’m trying to get a paper ball into Kathy’s trash can.
Oh well done!
Can I try?
Sure.
OK. Here we go.
Try rolling it into a smaller ball.
OK.
Click here to watch this video with a clickable transcript
Watch videos about some other verbs that can be followed by gerunds and infinitives. Learn how their meanings change.
used to do – be used to doing
stop to do – stop doing
Click here to watch more grammar videos