"increasing" use of variable TRY AND

[Victoria Neufeldt]

I just tried to check on the relative frequency of "try and" and "try to" in
our citation database, but the thing froze up on me.  However, just to
reiterate the basic usage issue, here is an excerpt from  Merriam-Webster's
Dict of English Usage:

"The use of _try and_ in contexts where _try to_ would be possible has been
subject to criticism since the 19th century.  The issue continues to enjoy
great popularity, although a number of usage commentators, including Fowler
1926, Evans 1957, and Follett 1966, are on record as recognizing that _try
and_ is an established standard idiom. . . .

"The basis for objecting to _try and_ is usually the notion that _try_ is to
be followed by the infinitive combined with the assumption that an
infinitive requires _to_.  This is the same mistaken assumption that has
caused so much trouble over the so-called split infinitive  . . .

". . . _Try_ did not appear as _try and_ until the 17th century, when our
familiar sense of the word was first established.  Interestingly, the
earliest example for the "make an attempt" sense in the OED involves the
_try and_ construction, so _try and_ may actually be older than _try to_."

There's more interesting stuff in the _try and_ article.  Included, by the
way, is a quotation from a letter by Jane Austen written in 1813: "Now I
will try and write of something else."

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt
Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102
Tel: 413-734-3134  ext 124
Fax: 413-827-7262




> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of RonButters at AOL.COM
> Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 11:24 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "increasing" use of variable TRY AND
>
>
> My memory is that TRY AND is also in Poutsma and Jespersen, as I
> recall. So,
> yes, TRY AND as an alternative for TRY TO has been around for a long time.
> What interested me was the assertion of <Dfcoye at AOL.COM> that the
> use of TRY
> AND is "increasing". How does one know that it is "increasing"? For that
> matter, how do we know that one or another pronunciation of EITHER is
> "increasing" (also one of Dfcoye's assertions). Does anyone have any hard
> empirical data for either hypothesis?
>
> Or is this just one more example of the so-often expressed naive
> notion that
> the English language is going to the dogs--that every linguistic
> variant that
> one disfavors is evidence of "increasing" degeneration?
>
>
> In a message dated 7/18/2000 10:20:54 PM, nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU writes:
>
> << It's not. I don't remember the details, but I'm fairly sure
> Visser looks at
> this construction. Of course, I don't HAVE Visser. >>
>