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"Try and" grammar error on your web page at http://www.debian.org/ports/ia64/.



Title: "Try and" grammar error on your web page at http://www.deb
Hi Debian folks,

Thanks tons for providing Debian.  We are in your debt!

In case you'd like to tidy up a bit, I noticed a grammar error on your site, on the http://www.debian.org/ports/ia64/ page, under "BIOS Versions", as follows:

"It's possible that you may find an early ia64 machine that needs a BIOS upgrade to work well with Linux.  One particular combination we've heard about is trying to run new kernels on "Lion" systems with really old BIOS versions. To try and make this easier ..."

"Try and..." is broken grammar.  (Just as "trying and run..." would have been broken grammar.)  It should be:

"It's possible that you may find an early ia64 machine that needs a BIOS upgrade to work well with Linux.  One particular combination we've heard about is trying to run new kernels on "Lion" systems with really old BIOS versions. To try to make this easier ..."

References below if you're interested.

Thanks tons and regards, Bruce

Bruce Campbell
15270 SW Holly Hill Road
Hillsboro, OR  97123-9074
Voice:  503-628-2936 (Pacific)
Email:  Bruce@AirplaneHome.com
www.AirplaneHome.com



The phrase "try and" is grammatically incorrect.  It should be "try to".

The word "and" means in addition to, such as when describing multiple separate items.  There's a tendency for folks to use it as a universal connecting or "filler" word, but such use is generally grammatically incorrect.  Specifics follow if you're interested.

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The word "and" is a conjunction which means "in addition to" or "plus another separate item".  The phrase "try and" usually causes an illogical sentence structure because it indicates that a separate item will follow, but instead the composition continues to focus on the first item.  In general "try" should be followed by the preposition "to", which connects the verb "try" with the rest of the phrase and is used to show purpose.  ("And" is not a connective preposition, but rather a conjunction which indicates another item in a set of multiple separate items.  When incorrectly used in place of "to", an illogical and grammatically incorrect sentence results, as any competent reference on the rules of English grammar will attest.)

The following is an example of the same fundamental grammar error in a form which is more obvious to most folks:

Wrong:  He's trying and improve his technical skills.
Right:  He's trying to improve his technical skills.

Here are some references you can check:

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000253.htm

http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Rants/Rants-Grammar.html  (Fifth item.)

>From http://www.chipspage.com/Wordprob.html:

try and [verb]:
Sometimes in casual speech people mistakenly say "try and" when they mean "try to."  It is faulty to say that "We all try and help our neighbors in times of crisis."  In grammatically correct writing, "and" cannot replace the "to" in the infinitive verb form.  Write instead, "We all try to help our neighbors in times of crisis."
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