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What is the difference?

To try doing something
Try to do something

I found that try + infinitive means: make an effort to achieve something while try + -ing means: do something as an experiment to solve a problem.

Why don't you try holding your breath for a minute or two?
Why don't you try to hold your breath for a minute or two?

The answer key indicates that the meanings of these two sentences are different. How are they different?

anongoodnurse
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Yukatan
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  • Is 'here' that book again? Try here instead. And this is homework - I see someone has already downvoted you. And this is almost certainly a dupe. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 02 '14 at 17:18
  • i didn't get it about homework though..@Edwin Ashworth – Yukatan Feb 02 '14 at 18:15
  • and i can't care less about being down or upvoted ..:) @EdwinAshworth – Yukatan Feb 02 '14 at 18:17
  • and 'here' stands for Macmillan Exam Skills for Russia: Grammar and Vocabulary ISBN: 978-02307-2832-5 – Yukatan Feb 02 '14 at 18:19
  • i've never in my whole life done a site search.. i don't think i should be punished for that.. i've gone through all the possible book sources i possess at home.. and hadn't found the answer that's why i asked.. till today i had no ide this site existed.. so.. sorry to irritate hell out of you, @FumbleFingers – Yukatan Feb 02 '14 at 18:57
  • try to save and try saving is different.. cause i needed the answer with that hold your breath thing.. – Yukatan Feb 02 '14 at 19:01
  • @ Yukatan: I'm certainly not "punishing" you for failing to find one of many pre-existing duplicates of your question. But I am making the point that on a supposedly "professional" site like ELU, it's irritating to see people who clearly know better persistently writing in such a sloppy fashion. – FumbleFingers Feb 02 '14 at 19:05
  • Man, that there is a terrible test! I feel sorry for the students. – F.E. Feb 02 '14 at 20:26
  • 'i can't care less about being down or upvoted'. Neither can I. But if I thought the downvote was merited, that would at least concern, at worst really perturb me. I'm totally in agreement with FumbleFingers about the disservice such a cavalier attitude as you profess does to a site where valuable research and discussion takes place. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 02 '14 at 23:10
  • @Edwin: Seeing Susan has graciously done the donkeywork of cleaning up OP's scrappy text, I've retracted my downvote. Hopefully our point has been made, even if it falls on deaf ears (or should that be blind eyes? :) – FumbleFingers Feb 03 '14 at 04:12

1 Answers1

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What a good question! The difference is very subtle. In the infinitive form there's a sense that the person might not be able to do the thing and is being challenged to attempt it. In the other form the sense is more choosing to do something possible - perhaps to another end.

If you have hiccups you can try holding your breath to stop them. Changing the word order: Try to stop them by holding your breath. "Try to hold your breath" is self-contained - no purpose is suggested.

In your example, no 2 seems to come out of the blue - random. No 1 suggests that there is an application, as if someone has said something that prompts the suggestion.

Hope this helps.

Colin
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