Date:  Fri, 11 Apr 1997 07:46:00 -0400
From:  "David A. Johns" <djohns[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PEACHNET.CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Subject: Re: Variation in "try"-complements?

At 10:53 PM 4/10/97 +0000, Bill Spruiell wrote:

> However, when I got to the class of verb
>constructions that change meaning depending on whether the object is
>an infinitive or gerund ("forgot to lock the door" vs. "forgot
>locking the door"), I got a surprise. None of my students could
>detect any difference between "tried opening the door" and "tried to open
>the door", even when I supplied extensive contexts, different
>verbals, etc.

I don't get "forgot locking the door" at all -- can't imagine what it means.
With _try_, I sense an aspectual difference that has pragmatic consequences
in certain contexts: "Would you try to open the door" implies that I think
it will be hard, while "Would you try opening the door" suggests that I want
to see if it has some effect, such as cooling the house down. But I don't
feel any difference in "He walked up onto the porch and tried [to open |
opening] the door, but when he found it was locked, turned around and left."

I don't think I've noticed any unfamiliar gerunds since being in Georgia,
although I may have lost them in the sea of unexpected progressives ("I'm
needing a new notebook," etc.). I'll have to listen.

David Johns
Waycross College
Waycross, GA
(originally from real Yankee country, though not a real Yankee myself, since
my family hadn't lived there for umpteen generations. And weren't farmers.
But we did eat "rat cheese" with apple pie.)