> So, after this rather lengthy introduction to the dilemma, here it is: When do you say "try to", and when do you say "try and"? Are there any absolute rules, or can you use whichever of them you want at any time?
>
> Trav"this has been bugging me for years, after our teacher couldn't give us a definitive answer"holt.

First of all, I'd like to say that Internet Explorer sucks for crashing after writing this for abour 20 minutes. That aside...

Okay, here's my (brief) analysis of the difference as I see it. I make no garentee that it's what would be considered 'correct' by English teachers.

Anyhow, consider the following 2 sentances:
1)I will try to explain this stuff to you.
2)I will try and explain this stuff to you.

The first sentance I percieve to be the same as saying "I will make an attempt at explaining this." The second I percieve to be the same as saying "I will try. I will explain this."

In other words, I think that "try and" is more definitive then "try to". "Try and" is like saying "I /WILL/ do [whatever]" while "try to" is like saying "I will make an attempt at [whatever], but I will not ensure its success."

In general speech though, I find that the difference is so minimal that they can be used interchangably. I'm sure that I do subconsciously all the time, although I think that I use "try to" a lot more then "try and".

-Ka"much less significant difference then 'go to' and 'go and'!"z!