'Try + verb-ing' or 'Try to + verb'? - English In A Minute

Hi, everybody.

Welcome back to English In A Minute.

I'm James and today we're going to look at the verb 'try'.

It can be a little bit tricky to use this verb,

because it changes its meaning

depending on whether you use an –ing verb

or a verb with to.

So, let's take a look at some examples.

I tried baking a cake.

I tried to bake a cake.

These two sentences are almost exactly the same

but their meaning is a little bit different.

I tried baking a cake.

When we use 'try' with an –ing,

all we're saying is that we attempted to do something.

It could be a new experience

– something that you haven't done before.

I tried to bake a cake.

When we use 'try' with a verb and 'to',

we're saying that a task is quite difficult to complete,

or that we've failed.

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Bye, everyone.