“Try to do” presents an attempt to accomplish something. “Try doing” commonly presents an action as a possible method or experiment to see whether it helps.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “try to do” for an attempt. Use “try doing” when testing a possible action or method.
Key details
Confusion Familygrammar-and-usage distinction
Rule Familymeaning and construction
Termstry doing, try to do
Further guidance
Attempt Pattern
Try + to-infinitive commonly describes making an attempt to achieve the infinitive action.
Test Pattern
Try + -ing can suggest testing an action to see whether it works or helps.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
“Despite” and “in spite of” have the same concessive role and are followed by a noun phrase or -ing form rather than a finite clause introduced directly after them.
“Forget + -ing” concerns whether an earlier event remains in memory. “Forget + to-infinitive” means the intended action was not remembered and therefore may not have been done.
“Hear” normally presents sound perception as an event or natural process; “listen” presents deliberate attention. Before an object, “listen” normally takes “to.”
With noun phrases, “do” often focuses on carrying out an activity or task, while “make” often focuses on creating or producing an outcome. Many combinations are fixed collocations and must be learned as such.
