Don’t “Try and” Do Anything!

One of my big pet peeves is the “try and” construction, which many writers fall victim to because we have learned to talk this way. I see this often in published novels; obviously, the copyeditors and proofreaders of many publishing houses don’t catch this error either. When you use this phrase you are not talking about both trying and doing something else. You are talking about trying to do something.

Wrong:

Try and help me move this boulder.
I want to try and understand what you are saying.

Correct:

Try to help me move this boulder.
I want to try to understand what you are saying.
Try to pay attention to this often used but misused expression.

This also applies to the phrase “be sure and . . .” as in “Be sure and tell him I’m coming.” The correct way to say this is “Be sure to tell him I’m coming.”