Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
TRY AND / TRY TO
If you try to do something, you may or may not succeed. If you try and do something, then you either have or will (without question) succeed:
CORRECT: “You must not simply try to kill the dragon,” the king warned the young warrior, “you must try and kill it, or else we shall all perish.”
If you have yet to accomplish your goal, then do not state that you will try and do so unless you are certain that you shall succeed.
NOTE: Use of the auxiliary verb shall instead of will in the above sentence adds emphasis to the verb succeed. This particular rule of formal grammar—that the auxiliary verb shall normally should be used with first-person pronouns (I and we) and the auxiliary verb will with second- and third-person pronouns (such as you, he, and they) and that to reverse them shows emphasis (I will vanquish my enemies; he shall obey me or else!)—has generally come to be disregarded in common usage, but a writer can still use such word choice to advantage. I shall try to do so in the future. Whether I will try and do so remains to be seen.
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