[Ads-l] _try to_ vs. _try and_

[Robin Hamilton]

I think I might have been, since I'd see "try  to" as more formal than "try
and".

At the very least -- I suspect that there is a slight but definite difference in
meaning between the two phrases.  Or maybe they only occur in specifically
distinct registers?

Anyone got any pointers to where there might be a discussion of the differences
between the two?  I could google, I suppose but ...

Right, forget that!  Aren't books wonderful?  I reached across to my
grammarshelf, and lo, in Merriam-Webster, under “try and”, 2 3/4 pages of
detailed (I presume) unfolding of the issue, that would probably address
Wilson's question.

Now to see whether M-W concurs with what I said originally.

Robin

> 
>     On 08 November 2016 at 04:26 Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Was anyone else specifically taught that _try to_ is "correct," whereas
>     _try and_ is "incorrect"? It was like, you know, on the final.
> 
>     --
>     -Wilson
>     -----
>     All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>     come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>     -Mark Twain
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org