Amber_1010
Senior Member
Chinese-Cantonese
Hello everyone!
I understand that there's a difference between try to do something and try doing something.
Try to do=make an effort to do it
Try doing something = to experiment to see if it works, etc.
So, what about in this context? I'm not sure I get the differences here, because I think it is kind of hard to distinguish.
The situation:
I brought a laptop from the store at my university. But I'm not able to login to my laptop with the password that was given to me. So I go to the store and tell the guy working there that I have not been able to login in to it after several attempts. He clicks something, checks my laptop and says to me (1) "Try to login again.". So I do and fail to login in. He asks if this is brand new, I say yes, so he checks his office computer and gives me another password, and says (2) "Try logging in with this password."
I think we have to use 'try to do' in (1), and 'try doing' in (2).
Because I have been making an effort to login in before (1) and I need to try and see whether the new password works in (2).
We cannot say the opposite in both situations because 'try to do' and 'try doing' don't mean the same thing.
Do you agree with the usage and analyse?
(I had the experience and came up with the context.)
Thank you very much!
I understand that there's a difference between try to do something and try doing something.
Try to do=make an effort to do it
Try doing something = to experiment to see if it works, etc.
So, what about in this context? I'm not sure I get the differences here, because I think it is kind of hard to distinguish.
The situation:
I brought a laptop from the store at my university. But I'm not able to login to my laptop with the password that was given to me. So I go to the store and tell the guy working there that I have not been able to login in to it after several attempts. He clicks something, checks my laptop and says to me (1) "Try to login again.". So I do and fail to login in. He asks if this is brand new, I say yes, so he checks his office computer and gives me another password, and says (2) "Try logging in with this password."
I think we have to use 'try to do' in (1), and 'try doing' in (2).
Because I have been making an effort to login in before (1) and I need to try and see whether the new password works in (2).
We cannot say the opposite in both situations because 'try to do' and 'try doing' don't mean the same thing.
Do you agree with the usage and analyse?
(I had the experience and came up with the context.)
Thank you very much!
