Nick's Guide to Great Writing!

This page ©2001 by nicholasemiller

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1 elementary
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9 advanced
try and
...
.
3
Explanation and discussion:

Try and is a common mistake made by native speakers in their writing, and likewise should be avoided by second language speakers. It is nowadays commonly used in informal conversation between friends, but should be avoided in professional correspondence.

Use try to instead of try and.


Example(s):

    Business writing and speaking:
  • Wrong: We would like to try and improve sales by 15% in the coming year.
  • Right: We would like to try to improve sales by 15% in the coming year.

    However, among friends, in colloquial English:
  • Hey, John, can you try and come over this weekend?

Note(s):

Exercise(s):
Note: Due to the short, easy nature of this lesson, there are no exercises.