It is the beating of his hideous heart!
Have you ever noticed a quirk in the way we use English which you then start noticing everywhere!
Well, this started to happen with “try and”. As in “I’ll try and send a letter” or “I’ll try and come to the party”. I don’t care how many lofty literary citations anyone can muster, it’s ugly and (what’s worse) it makes no sense. It only makes sense if you say “I’ll try to send a letter” or “I’ll try to come to the party”.
And people use all the time! It’s driving me bonkers. I’ll forgive it in speech since it’s slightly easier to say, but in writing it seems lazy.
So cut it out with “try and” and do your part to save my sanity.
Bonus: learn the difference between “jive” and “jibe”. I confess my own sins here. I only recently learned the difference myself.
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chanson said,
May 21, 2009 @ 9:24 am
Yeah, I noticed that one too, a while ago. Somehow “and” is as good as “to” for an infinitive following “try”. There’s a similar construction with “go”, as in “Go and get me a drink” or “I’ll go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded,” etc.
Jonathan said,
May 23, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Glad to know I’m not the only one to suffer.