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

[roccondilrinon.livejournal.com]

//The written language should, wherever possible, reflect the spoken language.//

This has nothing to do with the fact that writing "try and" is no more convenient than writing "try to", which is all I was saying.

PS Would you tell a doctor or a lawyer or a physicist how to do his job? Then don't try it on a linguist. I am fully aware that there's nothing moral about using a standard language. I also appreciate just how useful having a standard language is and I don't appreciate it when relativism and modernism try to tell me that everything I say is mere opinion.

[danielrh.livejournal.com]

Phil, your post appears to have been written by someone unaware of Lee's linguistics background.
Were you trying to suggest that you were more studied in linguistics than he is?

[roccondilrinon.livejournal.com]

I actually wasn't aware that he had that background, and he came across more like someone who'd picked up a book or two or maybe taken a first-year class and taken the lesson on the nonsuperiority of the standard as an excuse to call out "grammar nazis". As I mentioned, I have very little time for the modernist attitude that came across.

Lee, sorry if I took you a little too seriously — I feel rather strongly about these issues, simply because the modernist/relativist "everything-is-only-opinion" attitude is so common among amateurs who want to sound impressive and I think it is thoroughly incorrect. I don't mean to offend you.

[kirby1024.livejournal.com]

"I actually wasn't aware that he had that background, and he came across more like someone who'd picked up a book or two or maybe taken a first-year class and taken the lesson on the nonsuperiority of the standard as an excuse to call out "grammar nazis"."

Nope. Up to Honours so far, working on clearing debts to move up to PhD level. I know of whence I speak.

I mean, let's not pussyfoot around, I do take the lesson on the nonsuperiority of the standard as an excuse to call out grammar nazis, but I do always wait for them to start it first! :P

As for the Subjective/Objective divide... Well, I'm not a pure subjectivist, I'm rather much of a fence-sitter in regards to that battle. I mean, seriously, you did see me in Philosophy, yeah? I don't actually think everything is just opinion, I do think there's a objective fabric to reality, I just think you're nuts if you're expecting to find objective truth in language - you're talking about the science of signs here!

As you may note, I'm just as passionate about language, just on the opposing side to you. I am, in a way, rather seduced by the Egalitarian side, but more importantly I find non-standard forms far more fascinating than standard forms, and thus I tend to stick up for them more often than not. I mean, I'm a online sociolinguist - my favourite things to look at are chatspeaks and Internet Englishes. Of course, it's even more fascinating to see how speakers of both react to each other, but that's what you get, really. So, no offence taken! :)

[taiba.livejournal.com]

You have been seduced by the dark side! Did you at least get a really good cookie? :-p

Phil's starting his honours. Soon, you guys will have equal rank :-p

BOSS FIGHT! (or something)

[kirby1024.livejournal.com]

It was indeed tasty and delicious. But they kept changing the cookie with every bite...

Heh, so, the question is, where's he going with his honours?

[taiba.livejournal.com]

I think he's actually doing philosophy, and then possibly continuing with Ling in a later degree.

Not sure, it's currently far too early to recall exactly :-)

He may just go straight on to philosophy PhD if he does well enough.

We'll see.

[kirby1024.livejournal.com]

Apparently I hit a nerve, and I apologise for doing so (I had intended a slightly jestful tone to my post, but this was apparently lost, I apologise for not making this clearer).

But do note that I am also a linguist, and even if I were not, I think that I'd still have the right to express my views on the nature of language. I did not intend to tell you how to do your job, and my sincerest apologies if my posts gave a contrary impression. I was merely attempting to engage in some lively linguistic debate. It's what I enjoy, lord knows I don't get enough of it these days...