Try + ...ing or try to... Hi everyone, Are those structures interchangeable in the following cases? The book I'm reading tries to point out the difference between them, giving us these examples (the

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Try + ...ing or try to... Hi everyone, Are those structures interchangeable in the following cases? The book I'm reading tries to point out the difference between them, giving us these examples (the first sentence in each case), but I don't quite understand what is behind those examples. 1) Let's try asking our manager for a solution (=?) Let's try to ask our manager for a solution. 2) He tried to open the window, but it was jammed (=?) He tried opening the window, but it was jammed. 3) Why don't you try relaxing a little bit? (=?) Why don't you try to relax a little bit? 4) She tries to relax a little bit after lunch every day (=?) She tries relaxing a little bit after lunch every day. Finally, for the sentence I wrote in this question, I would never write "The book tries pointing out...". But I don't know why. And I don't know if my intuition is right, but when I want to say that you try to do something and you don't manage to do it, it sounds better to use "try to". What do you think ?

Jun 23, 2016 4:56 PM

Answers · 13

Try + infinitive (to form of the verb) is used when what you are trying is a small task, job, etc. I tried to call my friend but there was no answer. Try + gerund (-ing form of the verb) is used when what you are trying is an experiment and it may or may not work. Are you having trouble sleeping? Oh did you try drinking milk before bed? Did you try using lavender on your pillow? You should also try reading for a few hours. I hope this helps.

June 23, 2016

They're never interchangeable, because the meanings are different. "Let's try asking our manager for a solution." In this situation, you have a problem and there are various possible ways of dealing with it. Asking your manager is only one of these ways. You could try solving the problem yourselves. You could try asking your manager for a solution. You could try consulting an external expert. Maybe one of these measures will solve your problem. Solving this problem is your ultimate goal - asking your manager is one possible way of achieving this. "Let's try to ask our manager for a solution." Here, your goal is to ask your manager for the solution. But perhaps you won't manage to do it. Perhaps your manager isn't at work today, or perhaps he or she refuses to see you.

June 23, 2016

I've never thought about the exact difference before. This video (http://www.engvid.com/try-to-do-try-doing/ ) says: - Try + infinitive is used for a DIFFICULT action that may or may not succeed. In the PAST tense, it usually means you failed. - Try + gerund is used for a SIMPLE action performed experimentally to see if it works or not. (trial & error) Based on this guidance alone, I would say: 1. gerund 2. infinitive (difficult task) 3. gerund 4. infinitive (seemingly difficult task)

June 24, 2016

I'm not sure how to answer your question (also because I'm NOT a native speaker!!) but I'll try, even though I'm writing primarily to "bookmark" your question as it's really interesting and there is no other way for me to find it in the future...(if there is, please tell me! I can't save it on Chrome as I already have thousands of "favourites"...) I think that the key difference between the infinitive and the gerundive in the examples above is that the -ing form refers to the process as a whole, as opposed to the infinitive which is used to express an attempt, a single action or the result of an action...In addition to that, I'd say that the gerundive sound a lot more informal and casual...But yes, "tries pointing out" sound bad to my ears too! But I may be wrong, so please take my suggestion with a grain of salt! Hopefully someone else will answer too...

June 23, 2016

In English the above examples are known as Present Perfect tense I believe. Usually in spoken English I believe they are interchangeable because both are understood as meaning the same thing when put in the context of the sentence. However, with written English you want to be careful when it comes to tense because you will want your tenses to match each other.

June 23, 2016

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