Point of grammar?

[nimthiriel]

Why do people say  "try and"  instead of  "try to"?

I thought  "try to"  made more sense...

Because if you use  "try and", what you're saying is you're going to try, AND you're going to do something.


"I'm going to try AND open the can of beans"

Rather than

"I'm going to try TO open the can of beans".

Comments

[rukubites.livejournal.com]

That is an awesome answer.

I can't see where the "try and" form would ever be appropriate in the written form, but that seems spot on for spoken word. :-)

[taiba.livejournal.com]

YEah, I was writing this because I got tired of seeing it in written form.

One of the problems with something becoming common in speech is that it then transfers to the written word as well :-p