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Liveinjapan Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

try and ...

A lot of people hurried away when they saw we were going to try and interview them.

I found the above in my book. Is 'were going to try and intervew them' correct?

If it is correct, can I say try to interview instead of try and interview?

Thanks
LiJ
  

Top answer

Liveinjapan, you have found one of my pet peeves! Personally, I think ONLY "try to" is correct, but I'm losing the battle, as "try and" creeps further and further into daily speech patterns. Not only CAN you subsitute "to" for "and," but I really wish you would!

— BarbaraPA

  • Liveinjapan, you have found one of my pet peeves!
  • Personally, I think ONLY "try to" is correct, but I'm losing the battle, as "try and" creeps further and further into daily speech patterns.
  • Not only CAN you subsitute "to" for "and," but I really wish you would!
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6 Answers
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Liveinjapan, you have found one of my pet peeves!

Personally, I think ONLY "try to" is correct, but I'm losing the battle, as "try and" creeps further and further into daily speech patterns.

Not only CAN you subsitute "to" for "and," but I really wish you would!
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Grammar Geekas "try and" creeps further and further into daily speech patterns.

Hi,
really? I thought it was not used much in the US... I think I always hear "Try (d)uh do something"
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Grammar Geek
Liveinjapan, you have found one of my pet peeves!

Personally, I think ONLY "try to" is correct, but I'm losing the battle, as "try and" creeps further and further into daily speech patterns.

Not only CAN you subsitute "to" for "and," but I really wish you would!

Thank you guys
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LiveinjapanA lot of people hurried away when they saw we were going to try and interview them.

Hi CalifJim,

Can we write the above sentence as:

A lot of people hurried away when they saw we were going to try interviewing them.

?
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Yes. You can use try interviewing instead of try to interview (or try and interview).
However, with that substitution the idea of trying may be a bit half-hearted, because the meaning changes slightly.

I sense that if you try to do something, you do it with some real effort and determination with reasonable confidence of success. What you're trying to do is of interest
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